Newsletter: The Best Partnerships Are Blind (Just Like Love)❤️ ; Car Festival Revs Up Cause Marketing for Mental Health Nonprofit 🏎️ ; Agentic AI is Coming for Partnerships🤖
After years of studying corporate partnerships, it finally hit me: The best ones are grounded in one thing—love.
You know what happens when a company is smitten with you? Doors open, conversations flow, deals get signed, and activations happen with glee. Love makes everything better—and certainly easier.
Now, I like to think I have some experience in love. I’ve loved the same woman for 38 years. But when I bragged that this surely made me a "doctor of love," she suggested I get a second opinion.🙃
So I went back and did my homework.
I wrestled with Shakespeare’s sonnets. I cut paper hearts until my fingers bled. I listened to Taylor Swift’s love songs on repeat and cried my eyes out.
👉🏻 But my deepest lessons have come from binge-watching Love Is Blind on Netflix (every episode 😮💨), all in the name of research!
Here’s what that “research” taught me about love, and what partnership pros can learn from it.
Attraction starts with communication, not looks. In Love Is Blind, couples don’t start with in-person meet-and-greets and flashes of their beach bodies. They start with walls, so there is no ogling. The pods force contestants to do something very, very strange: They just, well, how do I put this? They just talk, and sometimes, something magical happens.
My favorite example is Lauren and Cameron from season one. Their conversations flowed. They laughed, they asked hard questions, they dug into values. By the time they met face-to-face, the reveal wasn’t just good TV. It was the natural next step in a relationship already simmering.
In the clip above, they say, I love you to each other. ❤️🥹❤️
Partnership lesson: Too often, nonprofits either overdo the glossy stuff—or, more likely, discount themselves because they don’t have it. The flashy brand, logo placements, big events, and press releases aren’t what spark real attraction. The kind that leads to love starts with conversation. What impact are you having that’s meaningful, unique, and noble? What does the company care about? Where do your missions truly overlap? If the dialogue cooks, the reveal will sizzle.
Both Partners Need to Benefit. Not every Love Is Blind couple makes it to “I do.” Take the case of Deepti and Abhishek from season three. Deepti walked away at the altar with one of the best goodbye lines in reality TV history: “I deserve somebody who knows for sure.” Translation: This relationship isn't win-win.
Partnership lesson: Good partnerships aren't one-sided. A house divided against itself cannot stand. Both sides need to feel valued, respected, and supported. Otherwise, one of you will wave goodbye.
The bottom line is that love may be blind, but it’s not stupid. It’s built on real emotions, empathy, and shared value—and good partnerships are, too.
✍️ Partnership Notes
In my "Partnership Notes" section, I share stellar corporate partnership programs and show you how to do your job better!
1. Agentic AI is coming for partnerships.
💡 Harvard Business Review reports that top sales teams are already deploying “agentic AI”—autonomous digital agents that can replicate star sellers, nurture leads, and even close deals. For-profits are embracing these AI tools today, which means partnership pros are next.
2. Car festival revs up cause marketing for mental health nonprofit. 💡 In Australia, the country’s biggest car festival is drawing crowds who crave chrome and speed. This year, organizers partnered with a leading mental health nonprofit to mark World Suicide Prevention Day. Online, they rolled out awareness campaigns; offline, they’re weaving the cause into the four-day festival. The lesson for partnership pros? Great activations live in both worlds—digital and on the ground.
💡 I think it's great that family entertainment chain Chuck E. Cheese is again supporting the American Society for Deaf Children (ASDC) during National Deaf Awareness Month, but I hope the planned round-up fundraiser does better than it did last year. Last year's effort spanned 450 stores, but raised just $18,000, about $40 per location. The lesson for partnership pros? A large footprint doesn’t guarantee big dollars. Without strong promotion and execution, even a national campaign can underdeliver. The takeaway: push partners for activations that are visible, engaging, and well-staffed—not just available at the register.
🤑 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. Customer obsession isn’t just for businesses.
💡 In this week’s lead story, I wrote that the best partnerships are grounded in love. Fast Company reminds us what that looks like in practice: customer obsession. AT&T’s CMO says the only lasting strategy is relentlessly listening, responding, and earning trust. For nonprofits, swap “customer” with donor or partner. The lesson? If love is the foundation, obsession is the action. Show people you care by asking what matters to them, fixing mistakes fast, and delivering consistent value.
2. Comedian turns food bank volunteer into an influencer act. 🔐 (🔐 = This article is behind a paywall. I subscribe to this publication and can email it to you.)
💡 Kristina Wong’s solo show, #FoodBankInfluencer, isn’t just comedy—it’s a masterclass in turning lived experience into audience connection. During the pandemic, Wong began volunteering at a Los Angeles food bank and sharing her journey on Instagram, eventually dubbing herself the “world’s first food bank influencer.” Now her show blends humor, karaoke, and storytelling to demystify food insecurity. The takeaway for nonprofits? Donors and partners connect when you make the complex personal—and when you’re bold enough to tell the story in your own authentic voice.
3. Older adults outpace younger generations on TikTok.
💡 The share of US TikTok users 45 and older is outpacing the growth of younger demographics, with a 13-fold increase since 2019. Remember my advice: Email +1. If your +1 is TikTok, that's great. But your non-negotiable content, your #1, is always email.
😎 Cool Jobs in Cause
In my "Cool Jobs in Cause" section, I share open partnership positions so you can discover your next adventure.
1. Manager, Philanthropy + Partnerships, Vow for Girls, Remote ($85k-$100k)
2. Development Manager, Partnerships, Move for Hunger, Neptune, NJ ($50k)
3. Director of Corporate Relations, Home for Little Wanderers, Boston
4. Director of Corporate Sponsorships, State of Indiana, Indianapolis, ($87k)
5. Manager, Corporate Engagement, Food Bank for NYC, Bronx
6. Corporate Partnerships Associate, Lupus Research Alliance, Remote ($60k-$75k)
7. Manager, Partnership Marketing, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Atlanta
🧠🍌 Brain Food
In my "Brain Food" section, I share things that spark inspiration, fuel curiosity, and bring a smile to your face!
1. Charitable donation campaign for feds to proceed, but its long-term future is uncertain.
💡 In my last issue, I shared that the Trump administration had paused this year’s Combined Federal Campaign, the longtime charitable donation drive for federal employees. Now, good news (for the moment): the 2025 campaign will proceed, thanks in large part to pressure from more than 400 nonprofits that rallied to bring it back.✊ Still, the campaign's long-term future remains uncertain.
2. The most popular dog breeds in each state.
💡 The most popular breed in Massachusetts was the Labrador retriever. Buddy the Havanese was very upset, but he's always #1 in my ❤️. Which breed was the most popular in your state?
3. I spent last week in D.C. teaching at the New Strategies Program.
💡 Congratulations to the nonprofit leaders of the September 2025 New Strategies Program! The 4-day intensive program offered by Business for Impact at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business focuses on revenue growth for nonprofit leaders—and it comes at a time when nonprofits really need it.
A big thanks to our corporate partners!
BD, Best Buy, Comcast, Greater Washington Community Foundation, JPMorganChase, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, New York Life Insurance Company, Nike, Procter & Gamble, Target, Thrivent.
