Legal

Legal overview by Ed Chansky, Others
The Better Business Bureau
Standard 19
The Attorneys General Report

**NEW Recorded Course** Contemporary Cause Marketing Legal Issues

There are often legal implications and considerations when entering into a cause marketing arrangement.  According to Ed Chansky of Greenberg Traurig, LLP, more than 40 states have charitable solicitation laws that generally define and regulate "commercial co-venturers," "fundraising counsel," "professional fund-raisers/paid solicitors," "solicitations" and "contributions".

For a thorough introduction to these concepts, read For Goodness Sake: Legal Regulation and Best Practices in the Field of Cause Marketing.

You might also try:

A Legal Guide to Corporate Philanthropy by David Shevlin of Simpson Thatcher

Corporate Sponsorship: Frequently Asked Questions by Adler and Colvin

Regulations and Standards

The Better Business Bureau outlines voluntary standards to promote ethical practices.

The BBB Wise Giving Alliance Standards for Charity Accountability were developed to assist donors in making sound giving decisions and to foster public confidence in charitable organizations. The standards seek to encourage fair and honest solicitation practices, to promote ethical conduct by charitable organizations and to advance support of philanthropy.

Standard #19 instructs cause marketers to:

Clearly disclose how the charity benefits from the sale of products or services (i.e., cause-related marketing) that state or imply that a charity will benefit from a consumer sale or transaction. Such promotions should disclose, at the point of solicitation:

a)  the actual or anticipated portion of the purchase price that will benefit the charity     (e.g., 5 cents will be contributed to abc charity for every xyz company product sold),

b)  the duration of the campaign (e.g., the month of October),

c)  any maximum or guaranteed minimum contribution amount (e.g., up to a maximum of $200,000).


The Attorneys General Report – What’s in a Nonprofit’s Name? The Attorneys General of sixteen states and the District of Columbia Corporation Counsel, after consulting with numerous participants in joint commercial-nonprofit promotional campaigns, have produced this preliminary report as a way to inform interested parties and the public about the consumer law standards and policy considerations applicable to such campaigns.  Read the full report.

**NEW Recorded Course** 
Contemporary Cause Marketing Legal Issues
Your faculty includes legal counsel from two of the biggest players in cause marketing - Po Yi of American Express and Jonathan Blum of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, plus CMF's longtime legal commentator and instructor Ed Chansky from the law firm Greenberg Traurig.  Free to CMF Members, $99 for non-members.  Click here to access.