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The New Orleans Saints have helped stir deep emotions across America with their Super Bowl victory, but the NFL and NOLA charities missed a huge opportunity to engage more people in the rebuilding of New Orleans.
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The #whodat hashtag has become a rally cry on Twitter, just as the expression that inspired it has in real life and elsewhere online. Last night, the New Orleans Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts to cap a fairy tale ending to their inspiring season.
With all the emotional tugs on the post-Katrina journey the city has endured, no one had the presence of mind to focus the empathy and compassion that it created. Sure, the NFL is donating the Indianapolis Colts Super Bowl Champions gear to WorldVision for use in Haiti. But, why not donate a portion of the New Orleans Saints commemorative gear to a handful of worthy NOLA charities?
Or, why didn’t anyone direct viewers to an online destination showcasing the great progress made by NOLA charities with the help of previous donations? Even those of us cheering on the Colts would have been hard pressed not to do something more for these true champions.
Three NOLA Charities Worth Supporting
Since the NFL or any one else didn’t, let me highlight three charities worth supporting as endorsed by Sloane Berrent, aka The Causemopolitan:
St. Bernard Project – As the very deserving CNN hero of the year in 2008, this great organization is rebuilding houses in the St. Bernard Parish. They have amazing outreach programs and are creating tangible good.
Roots of Music – Music education, tutoring, and empowerment for students in low-income schools in New Orleans can make a powerful difference. Music education can lead to high school placement at the top music high school here, which can lead to college scholarships. Founder Derek Tabb was a finalist for 2009 CNN hero of the year.
9th Ward Field of Dreams – Brian Bordainick, the 24-year-old founder, stumbled upon creating this project when his Teach for America assignment in the 9th Ward was at a school still in FEMA trailers years after Katrina with no public fields. This has become quite an inspiring story and their goal is to break ground on March 1 for a football and track facility to be finished by the fifth anniversary of Katrina on August 29, 2010.
#1 Thing You Need to Learn from this Post:
Let’s use this opportunity to reconsider how causes are addressed. Let’s take a moment to consider how our society is changing — what is happening now — and what it means for the future in terms of how we communicate, engage, educate, and mobilize audiences to take action around social issues.
That’s what CauseShift.com is about. That’s what #ShiftHaiti is beginning to tackle. And, you can be a part of it.
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You would be hard pressed not to know about the devastation that happened in Haiti, the growing humanitarian crisis, and the overwhelming outpouring of generosity that continues to occur.
As of this morning, people have donated more than $20 million to the American Red Cross thru text message giving alone. Even larger amounts have been given online to a wide variety of charities, while corporations of all sizes have stepped forward in a big way.
While many will laud these fundraising totals and offer it up as proof that digital and social media is leading us to a utopian vision of the future, it will take new perspectives and much more work than expected.
Focus on Impact, Not Shiny Objects
The Internet has made us lazy. There are new, exciting tools. Collaboration happens quickly. Individuals can have impact. But, we are focusing on the shiny thing, not the impact.
Technology won’t solve these issues.
What will? How you use them. How you support people’s interest in acting. How you teach, engage, and mobilize is key.
This is not an awareness issue. Pink ribbons, wristbands, and hashtags are fleeting.
We need a shift. A shift in thinking. A shift in behavior. A shift in approach. A shift in how dollars are spent.
This is why Brian Reich, Anne Mail Bertelsen, and I have launched CauseShift.com.
Do You Want to Help Lead this Shift?
The CauseShift team is seeking big ideas and different perspectives. Do you have a big idea for how we can respond to disasters like Haiti? Have you read someone else’s idea and want to share it with others?
You can send your ideas and links to ShiftHaiti@causeshift.com via email or to @CauseShift on Twitter. Or, you can leave a comment here!
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Clinging to self-contained campaigns will make you irrelevant in this experience-driven age.
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There is a much greater awareness within the brand and marketing world for the need to engage communities in experiences, not just conduct campaigns. This is increasingly important when it comes to cause initiatives.
Cause-oriented consumers want a different type of relationship. They want ongoing dialogue, narratives, quests, challenges, and unique experiences.
We need to move our minds away from self-contained campaigns and toward experiences that engage the heart and minds, some running parallel and some running sequentially. These experiences need to help meet the human need of community building.
Coke and Unilever understand this. Do you?
How do you need to reframe your operations? Do self-contained campaigns have value anymore? What experiences do you need to offer?
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Beth Kanter is one of the most prolific writers and insightful thinkers when it comes to non-profits and social media. You can help her celebrate her 53rd birthday by sending 53 children to school in Cambodia.
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Giving away your birthday and asking friends to donate to your favorite cause has become an important part of the social media/cause landscape. Beth Kanter has been doing it for nine years.
I have a very simple proposition for you:
- Do you care about helping kids learn?
- Have you ever learned from Beth Kanter?
- Do you have a few dollars to spare?
I answered yes to all three questions, so that’s why I’ve donated to her birthday campaign.
How You Can Help
If you want to join me in helping give Beth a great birthday gift, you can go here to donate: http://bit.ly/beth53
Whether you donate or not, you can also help us send her birthday wishes on Twitter by tweeting something like:
Happy birthday #beth53! Let’s send 53 Cambodian kids to school: http://bit.ly/beth53
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Consumers make purchase decisions based on their needs, not your ideals. When those don’t overlap, you can lose market share.
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This past week, the Made to Stick guys published An Arms Race of Good on their Fast Company blog extolling the virtues of cause marketing and the Huffington Post ran an interview entitled, Cause-Related Marketing: Just Plain Ol’ Marketing?
Yeah, validation! Let’s ditch all marketing except for cause marketing. Right? Wrong.
Little Known Secret
I have talked with brand managers and other corporate representatives of highly successful cause marketing campaigns. Here’s a little know secret they’ve shared:
Marketing based solely on cause can lead to market share loss for your product or service.
This happens because your competitors can focus more on value and price advantages, attracting prospective buyers motivated more by those factors. Surprisingly, some of the most lauded cause marketing campaigns have created more good will than profit because they overemphasized the cause aspect.
Lesson to Learn
For those companies choosing the cause route, the key is to balance your messaging mix. That way, you inspire your cause-oriented consumer while reminding others what else makes your product or service great.
What do you think?
