Selfish Giving's annual 10 Best Cause Marketing Promotions of 2015. For more information and useful links, visit: http://selfishgiving.com/blog/ten-best-cause-marketing-promotions-2015

2. Hi and Happy New Year!
I’m back with my annual list of 10 Best Cause
Marke.ng Promo.ons of 2015. As always, it was a
great year for cause marke@ng.
There was a no@ceable spike in company-led cause
marke@ng promo@ons last year. Like a game of
“Where’s Waldo?” I had to ask: “Where are all the
great nonprofit cause marke@ng programs?” Of
course, they are always there, but the advantage
went to companies – at least in 2015. Perhaps
nonprofits will mount a comeback in 2016.
Last year was the first @me I did a full blog post and
Slideshare for my 10 Best. The combo was a big hit
with nearly 22,000 views on Slideshare alone.
My goal each year with my picks is the same: to
inspire you to create interes@ng, effec@ve cause
marke@ng promo@ons that raise gobs of money for
your cause. This list is just a start. You can find
thousands more examples on my Pinterest boards.
Wishing you all the best in 2016.
Joe Waters
Founder & Blogger, Selfishgiving.com

3. Promo%on: Pay-It-Forward Pizza
Partners: Rosa's Fresh Pizza, Philadelphia's
Center City
Why I Picked It: My roots are in local cause
marke@ng, and there is no be`er example of it
than what Mason Wartman has done at Rosa's
Fresh Pizza, a standalone pizzeria in Philly.
When Megan Strand and I interviewed Mason in
early 2015, he had become a media darling for
his efforts to feed the homeless in his Philly
neighborhood. He even appeared on the Ellen
Show!
Like all great ideas, Mason's is simple but
powerful. When customers buy a slice of pizza
they can buy another for someone in need.
Rosa's walls are lined with s@cky notes that the
needy can redeem for a free slice.
Rosa's has given away thousands of slices in a
neighborhood that needs all the extra dough it
can get.
Want to learn more about Rosa’s Fresh Pizza?
See my full post at Selfish Giving.

4. Promo%on: Second Chance Employment
Partners: Dave’s Killer Bread, Dave’s Killer Bread
Founda@on
Why I Picked It: We could all learn a lot from
Oregon-based Dave’s Killer Bread. Dave’s baked
passion in right from the start. The bread
company’s founder, Dave Dahl, spent 15 years in
prison before founding the brand, which has grown
to over $50 million in sales and employs 300
people.
Dave never forgot where he came from and the
chance he got to go straight. That’s why 30% of
Dave’s employees have criminal backgrounds. Eager
for other companies to adopt their smart and
compassionate prac@ces, Dave’s hosts an annual
Second Chance Summit for local companies.
Na@onally, Dave’s is crea@ng a Second Chance
Playbook to share with businesses.
Dave’s knows that the right ingredients ma`er.
That’s why they started with passion
Want to learn more about Dave’s Killer Bread? See
my full post at Selfish Giving.

5. Promo%on: Sports Ma`er
Partners: DICK's Spor@ng Goods, DICK’s Spor@ng
Goods Founda@on
Why I Picked It: In March 2014, DICK’s Spor@ng
Goods Founda@on launched Sports MaNer, a
proprietary crowd-funding plaiorm that lets youth
sports teams raise money from supporters and earn
a matching grant through its founda@on.
184 teams joined the crowdfunding program
represen@ng 35 states and 35 unique sports. Aler a
tutorial from GOODcorps on how to use the site,
the teams raised more than $2 million in dona@ons
during the five-week fundraising campaign. With
DICK’s Spor@ng Goods Founda@on matching grants,
$4.6 million reached youth sports teams facing
severe financial challenges.
As a 2015 Halo Award winner for best social media
campaign, Sports MaNers has been a home run for
DICK's, its founda@on and local sports teams.
Want to learn more about Sports MaNer? See my
full post at Selfish Giving.
Photo Credit: USAG- Humphreys via Flickr

6. Promo%on: Race Together
Partners: Starbucks
Why I Picked It: This is the biggest surprise on the
top ten list! We could debate the merits of
Starbucks' Race Together - the coffee giant's effort
to start a conversa@on about our troubled race
rela@ons all day - but I'm pre`y no one would call
the campaign a success
S@ll, as cause marketer Phil Haid has "Rather than
scowl at Starbucks’ bold a`empt to further the race
dialogue, we should admire his tenacity and modern
corporate leadership."
I agree with Phil. Starbucks has always been a cause
leader and Race Together is another example of its
corporate leadership. It's easy to fault the execu@on
of the program at the store level and laugh about
baristas talking to customers about race rela@ons.
But the underlying values of the campaign
nonetheless advanced a basic, powerful truth: red,
black, white, yellow or brown we are be`er
Americans when we work together.
Want to learn more about Race Together? See my
full post at Selfish Giving.

7. Promo%on: The Castle Shares Program
Partners: White Castle, Au@sm Speaks
Why I Picked It: In addi@on to its square burgers,
White Castle is known for its cause marke@ng.
I first wrote about White Castle in 2010 when the
company launched a specialty candle to benefit
Au@sm Speaks.
But this just wasn’t any candle. It was an onion -
and hamburger-scented candle that “Cravers”- fans
of White Castle - loved almost as much as the
burgers. The big winner was Au@sm Speaks, which
has received $100,000 from sales of the candles.
In addi@on, White Castle has hosted an annual
register fundraiser that asks consumers to donate
$1, $3, or $5 to Au@sm Speaks. In 2015, the
fundraiser raised $909,000, a 48% increase over the
previous year. In total, White Castle has raised $3
million for Au@sm Speaks since 2010.
Want to learn more about White Castle? See my full
post at Selfish Giving.

8. Promo%on: Find Your Park
Partners: Columbia Sportswear, Na@onal Park
Founda@on
Why I PIcked It: When a vaca@oning reporter came
across a group of La@no bloggers camping in a
na@onal park he was so surprised he wrote about it
for the New York Times.
Those bloggers weren't there by chance. They were
sent there by Columbia Sportswear. In a 2013
partnership with REI and the Na@onal Park
Founda@on a group of La@no bloggers were
immersed in a week-long trip to na@onal parks. The
bloggers' reports on their experience generated
over 60 million impressions.
In 2015, the partnership included Subaru, Aramark
and Southwest Airlines. The Find Your Park ou@ng is
now the grand prize for an annual contest for
diverse millennial influencers that includes
bloggers, YouTube celebri@es, business owners and
TV personali@es.
Want to learn more about Find Your Park? See my
full post at Selfish Giving.

9. Promo%on: Lend a Hand
Partners: Pe@r Garden Centers, Sco`s Miracle-Gro,
Cleveland Clinic
Why I PIcked It: A great example of a local cause
marke@ng program is Cleveland Clinic's with Pe@r
Garden Centers, which has nine stores in northeast
Ohio.
Prior to 2013, the register program at Pe@r stores
raised $9,000. In 2013, the fundraiser quadrupled its
results and raised $40,000!
In 2014, Pe@r convinced lawn and garden giant
Sco`s Miracle-Gro to match customer dona@ons.
The program grew like crazy and raised $100,000.
In 2015, thanks to Pe@r's and Sco`s, the program
raised $165,000.
The point is clear. Cause marke@ng isn't just for big
nonprofits and businesses. Passion, educa@on and
persistence can produce big returns for nonprofits
and companies of all sizes.
Want to learn more about Pe.R’s? See my full post
at Selfish Giving.

10. Promo%on: There's Nothing Bolder Than Being
Yourself
Partners: Doritos, It Gets Be`er Project
Why I Picked It: I didn't pick this cause marke@ng
promo@on because of the money it raised. For
every $10 donated donors received a bag of
rainbow chips. Doritos raised around $100,000 for
the It Gets Be`er Project, an organiza@on that aims
to inspire hope in young lesbian, gays, bisexual and
transgender youth facing harassment.
For a large, na@onal brand like Doritos, which is
owned by Frito-Lay, this isn't a huge pile of chips.
I picked the campaign because it's a great example
of Causejacking, when a brand rides the wave of a
cause's popularity. Just two months earlier, the
Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in the
United States. As proponents and opponents
exchanged jabs and blows, Doritos shared a
rainbow that got everyone's a`en@on.
Want to learn more about rainbow chips? See my
full post at Selfish Giving.

11. Promo%on: The Orvis Cover Dog Photo Contest
Partners: Orvis, Morris Animal Founda@on
Why I Picked It: Spor@ng and dog products retailer
Orvis and the Morris Animal Founda@on created
The Orvis Cover Dog Photo Contest to deepen
customer engagement and awareness. Par@cipants
submi`ed a picture of their dog to the contest and
then invited friends and family (through social
media) to give their photo some doggie love. Each
vote cost $1 with a $5 minimum vote/dona@on.
Here's the impressive part. More than 100,000
photos were submi`ed. Orvis added tens of
thousands of customers to its mailing list. Morris
raked in 26,540 new donors - 10 percent of whom
have already made a second gil.
To date, $1,085,898 has been raised and 11 major
colleges and universi@es are conduc@ng research
funded by monies gained through this program. By
partnering with Orvis, Morris Animal Founda@on
has created six programs, including one to train
scien@sts and two to improve cancer diagnoses.
Want to learn more about Orvis? See my full post at
Selfish Giving.
Photo Credit: Michael Gil via Flickr

12. Promo%on: Second Annual Make-A-Wish Dona@on
Program
Partners: GameStop, Make-A-Wish
Why I Picked It: In 2015, GameStop raised money
for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and
donated products to Ronald McDonald House
Chari@es.
But it was GameStop's cause marke@ng promo@on
with Make-A-Wish that got them onto my 2015
"Best" list.
In 2014, the retailer raised $300,000 for Wish with
simple checkout program. A @dy sum, for sure. But
in 2015 they quadrupled this number and raised
$1.2 million for the charity. They did it by pulling out
all the stops. They leveraged social media, they
appointed employee ambassadors to oversee the
execu@on of the fundraiser and they incen@vized
customers. In short, they developed a strategy to get
every customer to give. And it paid off in a BIG way
for Make-A-Wish.
Want to learn more about GameStop? See my full
post at Selfish Giving.