This week, I’ve been participating in the Strategy for Good Summit, a virtual series of presentations on social responsibility hosted by Susan Hyatt, founder and CEO of CORE THOUGHT.  The summit continues all week and you can still register here.

Monday’s lineup included a presentation by Mark Kramer, Co-founder and Managing Director of FSG on the topic of redefining the role of corporations in society.  Mark is an advocate of ‘catalytic philanthropy’ and asserts that philanthropy shouldn’t be about funding individual organizations, or even solutions, but rather about assembling the right mix of resources, organizations, funders and thinkers to attack a problem holistically.

Here are the 4 practices of ‘catalytic philanthropy’ Mark outlined:

1. RESULTS:  Donors take responsibility for achieving results (and setting clear, measurable, attainable goals)
2. MOBILZATION: Donors mobilize a campaign for change, not just give money
3. TOOLS: Donors use all available tools, not just money (advocacy, fundraising, convening, investing, company resources)
4. KNOWLEDGE: Donors build actionable knowledge about the issue that improves effectiveness and influences the behavior of others

And here is an example of ‘catalytic philanthropy’ in action: Strive Partnership (www.strivetogether.org)

The hallmark of the Strive partnership is that it coordinates the activities of many organizations working to improve education in Cincinnati, OH.  Participants include nonprofits, schools, government agencies and corporate partners such as Proctor & Gamble and JP Morgan Chase.  The initiative spans cradle to career and ensures that organizations at all levels of education are working in concert, communicating effectively and moving towards the same overall goal.  Organizations are broken down into working groups (i.e. high school readiness, teacher training) to tackle specific aspects of the overall goal.  Additionally, the community is invited to be part of the solution through the 'Be the Change' public campaign.

The results are very promising.  The initiative has tracked 50 indicators across the five to six years of the collaboration and as of the latest results, 83% of the indicators are moving in the right direction.  You can read the 2011 partnership Report here.

Today is International Corporate Philanthropy Day, an initiative spearheaded by CECP to “build awareness of corporate-community partnerships and to inspire businesses around the world to engage further”.  How is your company marking the occasion?

Here are some inspiring CECP member projects showcased by CECP:

Samsung

Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow education program will gift its sixth assistance dog to a school in the U.S. with the help of the National Education for Assistance Dog Services (NEADS).  Samsung employees will be invited to a lunch and learn series to learn about the program and see a demonstration of what the dogs can do for those with disabilities including turning on lights and picking-up dropped articles, such as cell phones and pens.

State Farm

The State Farm Youth Advisory Board (YAB) empowers youth to play a leading role in improving public K-12 education through service-learning and creating sustainable change in local communities.  In recognition of ICPD 2012, the YAB will be launching a new grant opportunity for 40 communities to receive a $25,000 grant. 

Roshan

Roshan is collaborating with d.light to replace kerosene lamps in households across Afghanistan with durable, solar powered lanterns through the Gift of Light Project. Employees, partners and suppliers will be able to make a donation through M-Paisa, Roshan's mobile money transfer service. For every employee that pledges and donates a lamp, Roshan will match the donation with an additional lamp on their behalf.

The following is a guest post from Network for Good's Chief Strategy Officer, Katya Andresen.  The article originally appeared on Katya's Nonprofit Marketing Blog.

According to a new report from Fenton on social media (download here), there are several stages to what I would call social media hysteria.

Stage 1: Urgency.  As in, “Everyone’s doing it. We need to do be doing it. Set up a Facebook page. And start tweeting!”

Stage 2: Existential Handwringing.  As in, “Wait, what are we doing here? We’ve gotten some fans and followers but are we really attracting more donors and members this way?”

Stage 3: Disappointment.  As in, “This social media thing is a bust. It takes a ton of time and I’m not sure we’re getting enough out of it.”

Fortunately, this kind of angst is preventable by setting goals and measuring them in simple but meaningful ways. 

Specifically, Fenton lays out an elegant framework:

• “See” Metrics. These metrics track eyeballs or impressions.  They measure your exposure - though not necessarily your impact.
• “Say” Metrics. These metrics are when people take your messages and repeat them verbatim across their networks.  This gives signs people may be more engaged with your cause.
• “Feel” Metrics. These metrics track the degree to which people get involved with your message - they comment on your Facebook content or they react to your Tweets.
• “Do” Metrics. These are the best - people donating, volunteering, signing a petition etc.  It’s where you want people to be!

For each metric, ask yourself:

• Who is engaging? 
• What are they responding to? 
• What are they saying? 
• What does this mean?

This kind of questioning will lead to smarter reflection and better results.  Don’t wring your hands - just put on your thinking cap!

Photo courtesy of Katya Andresen

Our friends at YourCause create weekly insightful profiles of cause marketing campaigns.  Here’s their latest edition, which originally appeared on the YourCause blog.  YourCause is a provider of global employee engagement solutions.  You can learn more about YourCause’s CSRConnect platform and get additional CSRinsights here. 

Company: Kraft Macaroni & Cheese

Cause: Hunger

Partners: Feeding America

Website: https://twitter.com/kraftmacncheese

Program of Action

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese is teaming up with Feeding America to support hunger in the United States by launching their first Valentine’s Day campaign, Golden Voice of Love. For every consumer’s Valentine’s Day tweet tagged with #VoiceOfLove on Twitter, Kraft will donate 100 boxes to Feeding America, up to 100,000.

Ted Williams, the homeless man who became famous for his unique soulful voice, will be recording your tweet in a personalized video reading. All tweets tagged with #VoiceOfLove will be sent to Mr. William’s virtual mailbox. He will record the tweet and then send the message to whom it may concern with a link to view the video via Twitter. All Voice of Love videos will be available to view on the Kraft Macaroni & Cheese YouTube Channel (kraftmacncheese).

Best Practices

Many cause marketing campaigns are based through social media and can be shared through Facebook or Twitter; however, this campaign seemed a bit different in that it

1. creates a hashtag Twitter campaign, and

2. launches Golden Voice of Love during a holiday

Firstly, consumers can only support the campaign through Twitter – a practice commonly known as hashtag Twitter campaigns. These evolving campaigns offer a clear call-to-action approach to urge consumers to simply tweet a personal message and help support a cause. In addition, social media sites can be used to raise awareness in a quick manner and cultivate an online community where users can communicate, engage, and act for a cause.

Secondly, holiday marketing is a great way to engage consumers to get involved with the holiday spirit and give back. As consumers prepare to buy gifts for their loved ones, they often want to give to individuals in need, as well. Centering a campaign on a holiday also means the campaign must end once the holiday has passed. A short timeframe keeps consumers involved and allows them to act upon the request (or share with others) as soon as possible.

Program Outcome

Golden Voice of Love will donate 100,000 boxes of Macaroni and Cheese to Feeding America at the end of the campaign. Consumers do not have much time; the campaign began February 12th and will end on Valentine’s Day. Kraft Macaroni & Cheese wants to make sure you spread the love this Valentine’s Day and send a personalized recording from the man with a deep and soothing voice to your loved one. Share your love today and help support Feeding America in providing meals for individuals in need.