Attitudes Toward Charities in Marketing Partnerships: a New Survey

More than three-quarters of consumers say that a marketing partnership between a charity and a company they trust makes a charitable cause stand out, according to a new survey commissioned by Cone, a Boston marketing firm.

More than half of the people in the survey — 56 perscent — said that such partnerships make them more likely to “feel positively” toward the nonprofit group. Half of the participants said that they would be more likely to make a donation to the charity, and 41 percent reported that they would be more likely to volunteer for the organization.

In the past, Cone has surveyed consumers about their attitudes toward companies that align themselves with charitable causes, but for this project, the marketing firm wanted to look at the issue from the perspective of the nonprofit groups, says Alison DaSilva, an executive vice president at Cone.

When a charity is thinking about entering a marketing partnership, officials often need to persuade people within their organization as well as the prospective partner, says Ms. DaSilva.

“There’s still that hesitation about what might be the risk of aligning with a company, or is the return on investment there versus other ways [of raising money], such as direct mail and capital campaigns,” she says.

Nearly two-thirds of the people surveyed — 61 percent — seek details about the marketing partnership before they decide whether or not to support it, but only 45 think that companies and charities disclose enough information about the deals.

A Color or Month

The survey found that consumers are also influenced by other types of nonprofit marketing, such as an association with a special event or time period (81 percent); a memorable color, logo, or icon that symbolizes the cause (79 percent); and the involvement of a celebrity or other high-profile spokesperson (61 percent).

Large national organizations are behind the most well-known examples of these techniques — such as Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s involvement in Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October and the yellow Livestrong bracelets that benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation. But Ms. DaSilva says the approaches are equally valid for smaller charities.

“You can look from a regional perspective and say, ‘What’s going on in my city during certain times?’” she says. “An environmental NGO can say, ‘How can I build upon and insert myself into Earth Day or the month of April?’”