Cause Marketing/Corporate Partnerships

The Startup America Partnership, a nonprofit organization working with the government to fund innovation and create jobs, on Tuesday unveiled a new online platform and $330 million worth of product and service commitments designed to help early stage companies, CEO Scott Case told Reuters.

The platform was beta tested by several hundred companies for about a month, said Case, who aims to have more than 100,000 small businesses registered by the first quarter of 2012.

On Sept. 1, Stonyfield launched a new yogurt lid campaign to support nonprofit Breastcancer.org, the world's leading online resource for expert-reviewed information and support on breast health and breast cancer. The campaign's goal is to promote better breast health through a planet-friendly lifestyle. Using social media outlets and e-mail, participants are urged to read and share stories about making lifestyle changes as a way to reduce breast cancer risk. To encourage participation, Stonyfield will donate up to $100,000 to Breastcancer.org for actions participants take online.

Cold Stone Creamery and the Make-A-Wish Foundation invite the country to the 10th Annual World’s Largest Ice Cream Social Sept. 27 for a free Sprinkled with Wishes Creation as the culmination of a month-long fundraising event. Proceeds from the event benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Throughout September, every Cold Stone store nationwide will sell paper wish stars for $1 each. The month-long fundraiser concludes with the 10th Annual World’s Largest Ice Cream Social Sept. 27. During the social, Cold Stone will give away 3-ounce portions of the Sprinkled with Wishes Creation from 5-8 p.m., encouraging guests to donate to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

While Wall Street has slowly returned from the depths of the financial crisis, nonprofit groups that have come to depend on the industry’s donations are still struggling. With the global market turmoil and the threat of a double-dip recession, many big banks are clutching their cash or rethinking their giving strategy to maximize their dollars.

The changing nature of Wall Street giving has touched many corners of the nonprofit world. Financial firms accounted for the largest amount of corporate cash donations in 2010, according to the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy.

In support of the upcoming 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance, American Express announced the launch of the I WILL VOLUNTEER Facebook application, powered by HandsOn Network, the volunteer activation division of Points of Light Institute. This new app is designed to connect volunteers across the country to service projects in their communities.

The 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance is a federally recognized initiative being led by MyGoodDeed and HandsOn Network.

Companies like UPS and Wal-Mart are teaching trade crafts to aid workers so they can deliver food and shelter to famine victims more quickly and cheaply, saving money and ultimately more lives.

When World Food Programme Executive Director Josette Sheeran visited hunger sites in Kenya and Somalia last month, she brought Peter Bakker, former chief executive of transportation company TNT and current U.N. ambassador against hunger. Bakker is helping rally businesses to provide support for those affected by the drought and famine in the Horn of Africa.

The Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs and Good360, formerly Gifts In Kind International, have completed the first year of a unique, ongoing collaboration designed to measure the impacts of corporate gifts-in-kind to non-profit organizations.

The collaborators have focused on evaluating the effects on community nonprofits of Framing Hope, a partnership between Good360 and The Home Depot Foundation in which unsold merchandise from Home Depot stores is donated to participating nonprofit organizations. More information and preliminary research results may be seen at http://www.indiana.edu/~spea/research/interdisciplinary_research/index.shtml.

Ten years ago, you would have been hard-pressed to find philanthropy specialists in most private banking and investment firms. But today, philanthropic services are a major division of most wealth management operations, offering clients a myriad of investment vehicles and services to do good.

“… Philanthropy has become a central part of relationship management because it’s so much a part of a high-net-worth individual’s life,” says Eileen Heisman, CEO and President, National Philanthropic Trust.

For the third year in a row, more than 1 million Macy’s customers sprung into action to support Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), the nation’s largest children’s literacy nonprofit. From June 24 – July 31, Macy’s customers donated $3 through the Be Book Smart campaign to provide a book for a child, and Macy’s donated 100 percent of every $3 to RIF for a total donation of $4.9 million. The organizations partnered with the goal of giving 1 million books to children.

The parent company of the NBA's San Antonio Spurs has announced a partnership to help bring City Year to four East Side schools in the San Antonio Independent School District.

City Year is a nonprofit that places young people in schools and community programs for a year of full-time public service.

In SAISD, they will work primarily to prevent dropouts and boost lagging attendance by calling the families of absent students, developing a rapport with students and creating a positive school-going culture.