GLOSSARY OF CAUSE MARKETING RELATED TERMS

Some terms you may bump into in the realm of cause marketing.

Cause Branding

A business strategy that helps a company integrate a cause into its overall branding and marketing strategy to gain significant bottom line and social impacts while making an emotional and relevant connection to stakeholders.

Cause Marketing

A strategic marketing partnership that pairs a company or brand with a social cause or cause-related organization for mutual benefit.

Community Affairs (Community Relations, Community Outreach)

The department or position within a company responsible for establishing and maintaining a positive relationship with the communities in which they conduct business

Corporate Philanthropy (Corporate Giving, Corporate Grants)

The act of corporations donating some of their profits, or their resources, to nonprofit organizations.  Corporate giving is often handled by the corporation, directly, or it may be done through a company foundation.  Corporations most commonly donate cash, but they also donate the use of their facilities, property, services, or advertising support.

Corporate Social Responsibility

A company’s commitment to voluntarily and proactively consider all stakeholders of the organization, paying particular attention to strategically mitigate the environmental, social and ethical impacts of its business activities.  Cause marketing efforts may sometimes be included in Corporate Social Responsibility reports as proof of community engagement.

Corporate Volunteerism

Corporate support and/or encouragement for employees and other stakeholders to volunteer time and expertise.  Some corporations grant paid time off to volunteer.

Licensing

Legal agreement permitting the use of an aspect of a nonprofit brand to be used by a company in exchange for a licensing fee (e.g. Boy Scouts of America or Sesame Street).

Matching Grant

When a funder offers a certain amount toward a project or general operations, on the condition that the same amount (or more, or half, or whatever the declared amount is) also be raised from other sources.

Pinup

Any point-of-sale item used for cause marketing donation programs such as paper cutouts, scannable icons, etc. and typically posted somewhere within the retail location.  The MDA Shamrocks are the classic example.  Joe Waters has pictures of pinups on this blog post.

Slacktivism

A mashup of the words “slacker” and “activism”. The word is considered a pejorative term that describes "feel-good" measures, in support of an issue or social cause, that have little or no practical effect other than to make the person doing it feel satisfaction. The acts also tend to require little personal effort from the slacktivist.  Examples of activities labeled as "slacktivist" include signing internet petitions, the wearing of wristbands ("awareness bracelets") with political messages, putting a ribbon magnet on a vehicle, joining a Facebook group, posting issue-oriented YouTube videos, altering one's personal data or avatar on social network services, or taking part in short-term boycotts such as Buy Nothing Day or Earth Hour.

Social Marketing

Not to be confused with Social Media, Social Marketing is the application of marketing, along with other concepts and techniques, to achieve specific behavioral goals for a social good.

Social Media

Media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Popular methods include Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Many cause campaigns are currently integrating social media strategies to communicate their message.

Strategic Philanthropy

Philanthropic decisions that are integrated with corporate citizenship and other key strategic organizational performance-related decisions. Also referred to as Tactical Philanthropy, Strategic Giving.

Transactional Campaign

A cause marketing campaign in which consumer activity (either through the act of purchasing a product or an activity that can only be undertaken after purchase of a product) triggers a donation by a company.  Transactional campaigns may generate a fixed amount or percentage of sale or profit.

Social Entrepreneur

A social entrepreneur recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create and manage a venture to achieve social change (a social venture).

Suggestions on additional terms we should include?  Let us know!