Cause Marketing Archives | B2B

Midmark and World Vision: Equipping caregivers at home and abroad

World Vision Staff — Tue, 20 Apr 2021 15:10:12 +0000

For Midmark, the tagline “Designing better care™” is about more than their commitment to delivering excellence in the healthcare industry; it goes back to the vision of Midmark’s founder to be a leader in caring for the community.

Midmark’s ongoing growth as a global corporation continually increases the scale of that vision, and their strong partnership with World Vision enables them to care for communities locally and around the world.

The company’s collaboration with World Vision started in 2005 when they began donating high-quality, easy-to-use medical equipment to clinics in remote areas of developing countries. Since then, the partnership has grown exponentially, resulting in the donation of hundreds of exam tables and an invaluable amount of urgently needed healthcare supplies.

Midmark has invested in World Vision’s work in the United States as well. Seeing the critical need for quality services in the Appalachia region and in other domestic places where World Vision is helping to improve access to healthcare, Midmark donated state-of-the-art medical and dental equipment, allowing doctors to see more patients and serve those with limited mobility.

Midmark also pioneered a unique trade-in program, offering discounts to their customers for used equipment that they then donate to rural health programs around the world.

Images: Midmark’s contributions to caregivers in Africa

Exam tables donated by Midmark help health centers and doctors in the Democratic Republic of Congo be better equipped to serve their patients.

Thanks to the generosity of Midmark, World Vision was able to provide exam tables that will allow several clinics to better serve their patients.

Thanks to this and many other generous donations, fewer women will be forced to deliver their babies on surfaces like kitchen tables and the ground - unfortunately a common practice in many African countries.

Midmark’s work with World Vision goes beyond product donations. During the AIDS crisis, Midmark engaged their line managers in a teambuilding event through World Vision, assembling kits of medical supplies for community HIV and AIDS caregivers in Africa.

The event was so successful that the managers created a “Day of Caring,” giving Midmark employees at multiple sites the opportunity to participate in building kits. Midmark employees continue to be involved with World Vision programs at multiple Midmark locations and special events.

Staying true to their passion, Midmark continues “Designing (and providing) better care” through their trade in program, through donations to World Vision, and through their Days of Caring, all of which improve medical services and impact lives around the world.

Join World Vision: Donate top-quality product to benefit the lives of those in need around the world.

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Water4Her

World Vision Staff — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 22:21:45 +0000

On International Women’s Day (March 8), World Vision is joining partner Global Water Challenge (GWC) and a diverse group of organizations to bring attention to the importance of water in the lives of women. Water4Her is a movement initiated by GWC’s women for water initiative and Waterboys to mobilize 100,000 women, to help empower 100,000 women and girls in East Africa by breaking down barriers to a basic need: access to clean water.

These fundraising efforts will support World Vision’s Dream Communities project in Uganda, providing community water supply systems to 25,000 people, training to support 4,000 women as decision-makers for their household and create savings groups for women-led income generation.

Join us by sharing our campaign posts on social media the week of March 8, or by taking the pledge to help empower women and girls in Uganda.

Learn more at: https://water4her.org/donation/world-visions-giving-team/

Women making soap and reusable sanitary pads

Waterboys is a leading athlete led platform, founded by former NFL football player Chris Long and his wife Megan, to unite athletes and fans around a single mission: provide clean water access to 1 million people.

Global Water Challenge is a leading water access coalition whose efforts have delivered clean water to over 2 million people across Africa, India, the US and Latin America.

Now, GWC and Waterboys have teamed up to start the water4Her Movement. Led by Megan Long, co-founder of the Chris Long Foundation and former collegiate lacrosse player, this movement will enable women and girls in East Africa to live, learn, earn, lead and thrive through access to clean water.

THE RIPPLE EFFECT

In 2018, the Water and Development Alliance (WADA) in partnership with Coca-Cola, USAID, GWC and research firm Ipsos, studied how improved access to water can impact women, their families, and communities. The results were summarized in the report called the Ripple Effect Study, which shows that water uniquely empowers women and girls, which in turn uplifts communities. By removing barriers to clean water access, women and girls are safer, stronger, healthier, educated, empowered and heard. Women and girls around the world spend millions of hours collecting water that is often unsafe to drink. They may stand in line and wait for water, walk long distances and experience harassment. This is time that would be better spent learning, earning and leading their communities.

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Cause Marketing during COVID-19

World Vision Staff — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 20:54:37 +0000

As the economy struggles to right itself after more than a year of pandemic-related shutdowns, agile companies are using cause marketing to emerge into a “new normal” with exponentially greater brand recognition and brand loyalty than before. While it might be a time of lean revenues, connecting with customers through a shared, common cause will pay dividends in the future and build a positive long-term reputation.

While millions of people have tested positive for COVID-19, many more have been affected by the near-total economic shutdown. Companies are scrambling to adapt as consumers tighten spending, but agile companies are using cause marketing to emerge into a “new normal” with exponentially greater brand recognition and brand loyalty than before. While it might be a time of lean revenues for some organizations, connecting with customers through a shared, common cause will pay dividends in the future and build a positive long-term reputation.

Like any disruption, COVID-19 presents an opportunity to react quickly and gain positioning with target audiences, especially as stimulus payments are distributed. Large corporations like Anheuser-Busch and Ford recognize this cause marketing partnership, and are mobilizing their distribution and manufacturing assets for the common good. Audiences are generally more optimistic about private responses to the crisis than they are government responses, and companies are responding appropriately to satisfy a different type of consumer demand: the demand for good news.

Consumers are faced with an abundance of news about companies struggling and failing. As brands struggle to tell their stories in a time of crisis, the story needs to become a redeeming one of taking a stand for a greater purpose.

A Mintel study shows that in non-crisis times, nearly 73% of Americans say a company’s charitable giving affects their purchase decisions, while 84% of consumers place importance on a company’s support for a charitable cause. Customers with emotional relationships with a brand have more than 300% the lifetime value as those who don’t, and will be 26% more likely to recommend that brand to others. While this might not be an easy time to make profits, the opportunity is there for brands to create important emotional connections with clients through cause marketing.

The COVID-19 crisis promises to sear itself into the popular memory as a generation-defining event, and those memories are increasingly being made on social media. When consumers remember the lockdown in the future, will they remember your brand going through the crisis with them? Will tomorrow’s consumers remember your brand doing good in a dark time?

Partner with World Vision

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Building business and spreading goodness: The dual advantages of cause marketing

World Vision Staff — Wed, 15 Jan 2020 22:33:26 +0000

Like corporate social responsibility (CSR), cause marketing is getting increased attention in the business sphere. If you’re wondering how cause marketing can benefit your business, or how to implement a cause marketing campaign that both grows your business and accomplishes something good in the world, read on!

What is cause marketing?

Cause marketing is a subset of corporate social responsibility. While CSR encompasses the variety of ways that businesses can express socially conscious values, cause marketing refers specifically to how companies leverage these efforts to promote their own business goals. It creates a deeper connection between customers, their favorite brands, and the causes they care about.

For example, if your business does pro bono work or makes an annual donation to a charity, that’s part of your CSR strategy. If, however, you connect that giving with a promotional campaign (such as matching customers’ gifts) or use other strategies to make people aware of your giving, it becomes cause marketing.

Examples of cause marketing

Besides matching customers’ donations, there are many ways you can support your nonprofit(s) of choice, draw attention to your business, and engage customers, including:

Inviting customers to donate when they make a purchase
Giving a set percentage of your profits to charity
Promoting a socially conscious, industry-relevant message
Holding a pledge drive that rallies customers and generates buzz
Highlighting employee volunteer events

For more, including real-world examples of cause marketing campaigns, check out these 8 effective cause marketing methods to grow your business.

Benefits of cause marketing

Because cause marketing effectively serves as the public face of corporate social responsibility, it delivers many of the benefits of CSR — like increased sales, strengthened brand awareness and loyalty, and differentiation from your competition.

More and more, people expect companies to conduct business in a socially conscious way. And it’s not just theoretical: they pay attention to and make decisions based on the values companies demonstrate over the long haul. For example:

87% of Americans will purchase a product because a company advocated for an issue they cared about.
78% believe companies must not just make money, but also positively impact society.
66% would switch from a product they typically buy to a new product from a purpose-driven company.
66% of people around the globe would pay more for sustainable goods.*

Cause marketing with World Vision

While many deserving charitable organizations exist, there are good reasons to focus your cause marketing on international development. And when you partner with World Vision, we’ll help you create promotions that align with your goals, boost your bottom line, and empower kids and families to build futures free of poverty. We’ve partnered with companies of all sizes to build successful cause marketing campaigns like these:

For every mattress purchased during a seasonal promotion, Denver Mattress donated clean water for one person for a year.
For the past six years, Thirty-One Gifts has partnered with us on Giving Tuesday to match financial donations with donated products that support new moms, deliver medical supplies, and keep girls in school.
One Cup Coffee Co. built its business model to leverage donations and matching grants, so every dollar of coffee purchased creates a dollar’s worth of impact for the people we serve.

Through World Vision’s work, every 60 seconds, a family gets water, a hungry child is fed, and a family gets the tools to overcome poverty — and businesses like yours are important partners in making this possible. For more about the benefits of cause marketing or how we can help you implement it, check out our news and stories.

Ready to get started? Fill out our simple form and we’ll provide logos and resources for your promotion. If you hope to raise $25,000 or more, one of our reps can provide expert insights and personalized support to help make your campaign a success. We look forward to hearing from you!

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Partnership Update | Bradford Soap Works

World Vision Staff — Fri, 25 Oct 2019 21:56:20 +0000

On April 3rd & 4th, 2019, World Vision Somalia hosted a 2-day workshop – teaching soap making and important hygiene practices in the Community of Doolow , Somalia. Bradford Soap Works generously provided the soap base, a critical supply for the workshop. Thanks to your donations, World Vision Somalia staff equipped participants with new skills and empowered a community with safe health practices!

Report compiled by: Aisha Shidow Mohamed, WASH Project Assistant, World Vision Somalia

Workshop Introduction and opening

The workshop was officially opened by a World Vision staff member, Abdullah Nadir Mohamed with a prayer and explanation on the importance of making the soap. The first day started with introduction where every participant introduced themselves.

Expectations and responsibilities for learning

Most of the participants’ expectation was to learn how to make soap and take the responsibilities of making use of the skills in future for income generating projects.

Introduction to soap making The main aim of WASH is to reduce diseases. Hygiene is composed of personal hygiene, environmental hygiene, domestic hygiene, food hygiene, and water hygiene. Good hygiene practices reduce the incidence of diseases such as trachoma, scabies, skin and eye infection, and diarrheal related diseases like cholera and dysentery. The key to improving hygiene practices among the communities and children is promoting behavioral change.

Keeping hands and bodies clean is one of the most important steps that can be taken to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others.

Many diseases and germs are spread by not washing hands with soap and clean running water. Soap is part of hygiene, which is a major component in WASH. During distribution of hygiene kits, organizations cannot meet all the needs of the affected population with soap and it is not sustainable to distribute soap all year round. Soap making from soap base presents a more cost-effective way of providing soap to vulnerable communities, and can also be used to promote business skills, especially among women and other vulnerable members of the community.

How to make soap

Supplies:

Soap Base (Powder or chunks)
Pots
Water
Heat source
Mold
Small amount of oil

Procedure:

Fill a pot half-way with water, and let the water boil. Very hot water makes the soap melt evenly.
Add the soap chunks into the boiling water, and a batch of salt to make the soap melt evenly.
Mix the soap constantly, otherwise it will burn. Avoid producing foam, which makes the soap look lighter.
Prepare the mold by applying some oil or liquid fat to help release the soap from the mold.
It takes 40 to 60 minutes to get the desired consistency depending on the amount of water used and the size of the pot.
Pour the melted soap in to the mold, press the gelatinous soap with a spoon against the mold to be sure there are no air bubbles, then cover the mold with a lid.
On the following day, remove the soap from the mold onto a clean table
Measure and decide what size of soap you want. Cut the soap into bars and then leave them for some days to dry and harden.

Thanks to Bradford Soap Works dedication, World Vision has been able to impact families in communities all across Somalia!

Together, we are making a difference!

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4 Great Reasons to Focus Your Cause Marketing on International Development

World Vision Staff — Mon, 12 Aug 2019 22:34:41 +0000

With so many deserving causes out there, it can be a challenge to settle on a charity of choice for your business. Should you focus on international needs, or support something closer to home? While every business will find a different solution, here are four reasons to partner with an international development organization like World Vision for your cause marketing strategy.

Consumers care about international development — and want to support businesses that do too.

Last year, a study commissioned by World Vision found that 31 million U.S. households with incomes of at least $50,000 are open to giving to international charities. These households donated at least $100 in 2017, which shows that they value the impact of charitable giving. Additionally, the 2017 Cone Communications CSR Study found that 87% of consumers will purchase a product because a company advocated for an issue they care about.

This presents a big opportunity. By aligning your cause marketing with international development, you can increase your competitive advantage, attract these consumers, and build your brand as a company that shares your customers’ values.

Global development causes are diverse. You can choose the right one to align with your strategy and match your footprint.

What are you — and your customers — passionate about? Whether it’s healthcare, education, disaster relief, or providing holistic care to children in need, there are causes critical to international development that make sense for your company to support.

This also gives you more flexibility in structuring your cause marketing strategy. Some companies align their products with a cause. Others hardwire corporate social responsibility into their business model, and donate a portion of every purchase. If you have an international presence or source raw materials and products from overseas, you can even look for a nonprofit partner that works in that region.

By making your cause marketing strategic, you can show consumers and employees that your corporate social responsibility efforts are authentic, and that you’re interested in more than just the bottom line.

Globalization is increasing — and many of your consumers are global citizens.

As technology, travel, and other developments continue to shrink our globe, more consumers feel a connection with others around the world. In fact, research commissioned by Western Union in 2017 found that over half of millennials consider themselves global citizens rather than citizens of a single country. Furthermore, the same report found that 88% of respondents believe countries need to collaborate to build a better future.

Whether or not your business has an international footprint, supporting international development is a great way to tap into this mindset. Consumers will recognize and respond to your efforts to take your corporate social responsibility to the global level.

International development is underrepresented in charitable giving, offering you a way to stand out from the crowd.

According to Giving USA’s 2018 Annual Report on Philanthropy, international development represents only 5% of all charitable giving in 2018 — a small amount considering the scope of international development. Even so, it was one of only two giving segments that grew last year.

Clearly, international development is on people’s minds. And since market share is still so low, it’s a great time to be an early adopter and take advantage of the current growth trend.

As consumers think about which brands to do business with, you can position yours as one with a global perspective and the passion to make an impact.

Intrigued by these potential benefits? We’d love to help you find the strategy that works best for your business. Simply fill out our form to learn more about becoming a Cause Marketing Partner. We’re looking forward to working with you.

*Stats taken from the 2017 Cone Communications CSR Study, the 2017 Western Union Global Study—“Globalization: A World View of the Future,” and the Giving USA 2018 Annual Report on Philanthropy.

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The Gift of Mobility

World Vision Staff — Mon, 24 Jun 2019 16:22:29 +0000

Spin’s Commitment to Making a Positive Difference

In many countries, young girls and boys have to walk for hours to reach the nearest school. Unfortunately, the children often drop out as parents feel their time would be better spent working and supplementing the family’s income. Spin, which operates a dockless scooter-sharing service throughout the Unites States, is seeking to change all that with their generous gift-in-kind donation of bikes.

Originally, Spin launched its stationless mobility program in Seattle with dockless bicycle sharing. However, they soon shifted their focus to scooter-sharing. With a fleet of bicycles about to be retired, they soon saw the benefits of partnering with World Vision to make an impact around the world.

“At Spin, we are always grateful for opportunities to collaborate with great partners,” says Euwyn Poon, President and Co-founder of Spin. “We are committed to making a positive difference in cities in the U.S. and around the world. We believe the freedom to move creates new opportunities.”

For vulnerable children living in remote villages, a bicycle can definitely create new opportunities and change their future. A much quicker mode of transportation, bicycles enable children to spend far less time traveling to and from school—and ensure they get home in time to help their families with work.

“As a company, we are making an impact in America by creating another viable mode of transportation and a solution for first-and-last mile trips,” states Poon. “And now, partnering with World Vision enables us to make a difference on an international scale by sending bikes to underprivileged kids overseas.”

Gift-in-kind donations can alter the course of a child’s life and provide the opportunity for a brighter future. And the process is quite simple. “The World Vision staff have been incredibly helpful, understanding, and efficient,” notes Poon. “They are a great partner and made the donation process seamless. They coordinated all the pickups and shipments of the bicycles and made it really easy for us to be part of the work that they do.”

The end result has far exceeded Spin’s expectations. “Together, we were able to provide 64 pallets of bikes across the U.S. and around the world—and a steady means of transportation to communities in need. This is the only time we’ve partnered with World Vision, but we hope to have more opportunities to collaborate in the future.”

Want to use your excess product to benefit people in need?

Learn More

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The Global 6K Water Challenge

World Vision Staff — Tue, 02 Apr 2019 18:31:30 +0000

Join with your employees and change the world!

Last year, people gathered around the world to walk or run 6 kilometers in support of the Global 6K Water Challenge. In the end, more than 48,000 people and 29 businesses joined together to provide clean water for over 63,000 people. And this year, we plan to do even better!

Why the Global 6K?

Every day, nearly 1,000 children under the age of five die from diarrhea caused by contaminated water, poor sanitation, and unsafe hygiene practices. We can change that!

Clean water frees children from deadly diseases, liberates women and children from hours spent collecting dirty water, and opens the door to a promising future. By supporting the Global 6K, you can save lives by providing clean water to more children and their families!

Benefits to your company:

Unite your employees with a healthy team building activity
Engage your local community around a good cause
Elevate your brand in the eyes of stakeholders through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Promote your company’s wellness strategy

How to Participate

Sign up today to join the event or make a one-time gift to support clean water. You can make a difference on Saturday, May 4, 2019!*

*If you can’t join the event on May 4, you can hold your own 6K Water Challenge on any day of your choosing.

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How Year-End Giving Can Benefit Your Business AND Families in Need

World Vision Staff — Thu, 27 Dec 2018 18:55:27 +0000

As the year ends, it’s time to start thinking about tax write-offs. Giving to a trustworthy nonprofit is a time-honored way to do good while balancing your books before the new year. The most savvy companies strategically use year-end giving as a tax write-off and as a way to increase their brand recognition. How? By turning their donation into a matching gift.

How matching gifts work

Matching gifts come in lots of shapes and sizes, but they all share a few things in common. You tell customers that you’re matching their gifts to World Vision, for a certain period of time, and probably up to a certain amount. You keep track of how many customers make gifts eligible for a match, and make your donation at the end of the promotion. Specifics like the timeframe, the maximum amount you match, and other details are all up to you.

How matching gifts influence consumers

Since many customers are also thinking about giving to charities at the end of the year, December is a great time to showcase your company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts. When you leverage your year-end donation as a matching gift, you can double your impact while strengthening your brand’s image in customers’ eyes. Plus, customers are looking for a good deal, even when they give, so your matching donation tells them that their gift will be twice as effective.

A 2016 report by the Big Give, Charities Trust, and RBS* found that:

84 percent of givers were more likely to give when there was a match—and over one-third said they only gave because of the match
Matched gifts were typically 2.5X higher than non-matched

Ways your gift can make a difference

When you give a matching gift, your donation can be used to address a variety of needs around the world. It’s up to you whether you pick a specific sector like health or education, or let us distribute it to have the biggest impact for communities in need. These are just a few ways your gift can be used:

Supporting our community development model, empowering families and communities to get what they need to thrive
Teaching farmers better agricultural practices, like farmer managed natural regeneration to produce more food
Expanding our industry-leading clean water work, reaching one new person every 10 seconds and three more schools every day with clean water
Helping fellow entrepreneurs around the world access microloans and other economic resources to get their businesses off the ground
Providing transportation for donated goods so they can reach people in even the most remote communities

The benefits of giving back

Regardless of how you give, you can tell customers you’re a proud supporter of World Vision. This will both strengthen how people view your brand and attract customers who share your drive to help those in need. Especially when customers are on the fence, aligning your company with a cause can have a powerful impact on business.

According to the 2015 Cone Communications CSR study*:

81 percent of consumers say they want to purchase responsible products, but don’t know where to find them
71 percent of consumers are willing to pay more for a socially and environmentally responsible product
When given the choice between similarly priced items, 90 percent of shoppers are likely to switch to a cause-branded product

Keeping these benefits of cause marketing in mind, a matching gift is just one approach for charitable giving at year’s end. For other ways to partner with World Vision now and throughout the year, check out our article on eight effective cause marketing methods to grow your business.

However you choose to give at year’s end, thank you for partnering with World Vision. Your support is making a difference for kids and families in need. Together, let’s make sure 2019 is a year where they — and your business — can thrive.

*Stats taken from “A Great Match: How match-funding incentivises charitable giving in the UK and unites funders and donors in tackling social issues” and the 2015 Cone Communications CSR Study.

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CauseGear

World Vision Staff — Wed, 19 Dec 2018 19:40:08 +0000

Pursuing human justice through high-quality, ethical fashion

DES PLAINES, IL — What if the simple purchase of a tote or t-shirt could help free a woman from injustice?

Katherine and Brad Jeffery believe that ethically produced fashion goes a long way toward empowering women in the world’s most impoverished places.

It’s a philosophy that dates back to Brad’s travels in Africa and South Asia, where he was moved to learn of the millions of people suffering from human trafficking, slavery, and extreme poverty.

With Katherine sharing his passion and heart for helping the least of these, the pair set out to engage the fortunate few to help the marginalized many—and did so by establishing CauseGear, the Chicago-based social enterprise with a vision to see one million people “made free” through self-sustaining jobs.

CauseGear co-founders Brad and Katherine Jeffery (top right) sell ethically produced fashion to help free people from human trafficking, severe poverty, and slavery.

At its core is the belief that people who make our fashion must be able to take control of their lives and earn a livable wage. To that end, CauseGear sells ethically produced fashion— customizable with the brand of any organization—to help create sustainable jobs.

Ten percent of the proceeds from each item in their World Vision collection of design-savvy totes, backpacks, leather portfolios, and sports bags goes directly to World Vision to fund its work eradicating global poverty.

“Love comes first. No matter who you are or where you come from, World Vision is there to help.”

—Katherine Jeffrey, CauseGear Co-Founder

“We are huge supporters of business as mission and believe God calls all of us to use our gifts in every area of His creation,” Katherine says. “We believe in the work World Vision is doing. It is great to see an aid organization working to empower people to care for themselves, equipping people for the long term with both dignity and a sustainable income. You can use your unique talents and passions for the glory of God no matter what they are—from athletics to marketing to relief work. There’s a place for you at World Vision. Love comes first. No matter who you are or where you come from, World Vision is there to help.”

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