Newsletter: Mini is Winning for Brands – Can Nonprofits Join In?🧁; Why Sponsorship is Getting Riskier for Museums🏛️ ; The New Nonprofit Battle Cry: ‘Love it? Fund it.’✊
I was just reading about the explosion of “mini products” — those tiny, irresistible versions of full-size items that brands use to hook new customers.
The best example is Trader Joe’s $2.99 mini canvas tote, which went viral faster than free samples on a Saturday morning.
👉🏻 At first glance, this looks like a marketing gimmick. But there’s a big lesson here for nonprofits: it’s time to miniaturize ourselves.
Think micro-campaigns, short video series, test-drive partnerships, or pilot projects. The idea is simple: Lower the barrier to entry.
To build trust and momentum, brands use minis to let new partners try before they buy. You can do the same with micro-asks and micro-engagements.
For brands, minis win on cute. For nonprofits, they win on clarity. A mini only works if it delivers a clear, measurable result in a tight scope. Think a $10 “buy a meal” drive where supporters immediately see meals on tables, or a micro-partnership that produces a documented result in just a few days. Minis build credibility because they prove you can deliver—and deliver fast.
Of course, minis can’t be shallow or disconnected from your mission. Done wrong, they’re just another gimmick. Done right, they’re supplements to your big programs, not replacements.
Here are three “mini partnerships” that show how it’s done:
In the UK, Breast Cancer Now and CoppaFeel! partnered with Asda Supermarkets to print barcodes on receipts that prompted shoppers to donate or access health resources. A low-cost, low-friction touchpoint that made it easy for thousands to take action.
Here in New England, discount retailer Ocean State Job Lot’s Feed for Free program lets shoppers buy $10 of food from a special in-store display, earn a $10 gift card, and then donate the food to local pantries at no net cost.
In Queens, NY, Queens Centers for Progress teamed up with a Fresh Meadows Exxon station on a “Giving Pump” campaign. With just a penny per gallon from two pumps, the effort still generated over $4,200 over several months. Mini asks can add up.
Nonprofits don’t need charm. They need proof. Make your minis about focused impact, and you’ll have supporters and partners saying yes today—and yes again tomorrow when it’s time for something bigger.
✍️ Partnership Notes
In my "Partnership Notes" section, I share stellar corporate partnership programs and show you how to do your job better!
1. Why corporate sponsorship is getting riskier for museums.
💡 Museums in the U.K. are caught between financial need and public backlash as they rely on corporate sponsors while facing growing scrutiny over ethics. A new draft code of ethics urges institutions to weigh climate, ecological, and social responsibility before taking money, a shift from the broader language of past guidelines.
The takeaway for nonprofits? Partnerships are still a lifeline, but reputational risk is higher than ever. Vetting sponsors with an eye on future scrutiny is no longer optional; it’s survival.
2. This sponsorship came from human resources, not marketing.
💡 Why HR? Because HR wanted to support the community where their employees live. The takeaway: widen your pitch. Marketing isn’t the only door. HR, CSR, DEI, and ops all have budgets and priorities that align with nonprofit partnerships.
3. When efforts to support a charity take a wrong turn.
💡 Regulators found that Kars-R-Us.com raised $45 million for breast cancer screenings, but just $125,000 went to screenings. The rest lined the pockets of the company and its vendors. The FTC settlement forces repayment and clamps down on their future fundraising.
For partnership pros, the lesson is clear: when working with partners, insist on transparency and impact reporting. Don’t just celebrate the dollars raised. Make sure the money delivers on the mission you’ve promised together. Otherwise, everyone loses, including the nonprofit community, which is already battling mistrust.
4. The flip side of Kars-R-Us.
💡 The Kars-R-Us story shows what happens when companies exploit causes for profit. The Publix controversy shows the opposite: what happens when companies back away from causes out of fear.
After allegedly pulling out of a sponsorship for the Black Book Bash in Florida, Publix faced backlash and calls for a boycott. As Janice Gassam Asare writes in Forbes, “there’s no such thing as neutrality.” For partnership pros, the takeaway is that companies may crave safe bets, but genuine partnerships require standing for something.
🤑 Marketing Your Cause
In my "Marketing Your Cause" section, I share strategies for growing your brand and audience—two key ingredients for securing more partnerships.
1. Love it? Fund it.
💡 When federal funding for public broadcasting ended, Boston’s GBH didn’t flinch—they launched a $225 million campaign to secure the future of public media. Their rallying cry—“Love it? Fund it.”—is one every nonprofit should steal. If people value your work, make the ask clear, unapologetic, and constant. Better yet, make it the call to action baked into everything you put out.
2. Using surveys to get answers and deepen donor relations.
💡 Big Duck has a smart piece on using surveys not just to gather data and deepen donor relationships. It’s worth a read on its own. Still, even better, it links to two additional gems: guidance from the National Recreation and Park Association on collecting demographic information equitably and inclusively, and a companion article from Big Duck on how to approach audience research. Together, these three resources give partnership and fundraising pros a clear roadmap for gathering insights that are respectful, actionable, and trust-building.
3. Fat Bears, Big Lessons.
💡 The National Park Service turned Fat Bear Week into a viral juggernaut with millions of votes and 10M+ followers. The secret? Edutainment—blending humor, wit, and pop culture with real education (“don’t pet the fluffy cows”). The takeaway for nonprofits: serious missions stick best when paired with personality.
😎 Cool Jobs in Cause
In my "Cool Jobs in Cause" section, I share open partnership positions so you can discover your next adventure.
1. Managing Director, Corporate & Foundation Relations, Truth Initiative, Washington, D.C. ($145k-$155k)
2. Director of Corporate Strategic Partnerships, Easterseals New Hampshire, Manchester, NH
3. Corporate Relations Manager, National Recreation & Park Association, Remote ($70k-$84k)
4. Major Gifts & Corporate Partnership Manager, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI
🧠🍌 Brain Food
In my "Brain Food" section, I share things that spark inspiration, fuel curiosity, and bring a smile to your face!
1. Kindness pays (literally—and is so, so needed right now).
💡 Kindness at work isn’t soft. It’s strategic. HR Morning highlights eight ways to build a kinder workplace, from recognizing effort to practicing gratitude. Research shows it boosts engagement, retention, and trust. As NYU’s Tessa West notes, kindness helps people “feel grounded” in an insecure world—a reminder that empathy at work is more than a value; it’s a performance advantage.
2. New study finds cat people donate more to charity than dog people.
💡 Bow-ware: My dog, Buddy the Havanese, is convinced the researchers on this study were almost certainly cats and that this is just more fake news from the litter box lobby.
3. My season of horrible reading begins this month!
💡 From now until year’s end, I only read ghost stories, horror, and the occasional thriller/mystery. I’m unsure why I gravitate to horror when real life already feels horrible. I think it’s a control thing. With books, I get to choose my horror—skip a story, close the cover, take a break, tell myself it isn't real—instead of being swept away by the horror of uncontrollable events. Yes, reading horror is helping me cope, believe it or not!
Anyway, here are the first five books on my reading list.
The Long Walk by Stephen King.
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddens
I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died by Amanda Flowers
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
What's on your reading list this fall? Anything scary? 😱
