Sustainability. It’s big right now, but the concept can go beyond the worthy aim of continuing to get use from sports venues.
Cause marketing relationships can also benefit from sustainability. Some are one-time deals, and others go on longer, beyond an initial fundraising experience. It is possible for both a nonprofit organization and a for-profit to benefit from sustainability.
During the 2015 Cause Marketing Forum, Mollye Rhea of For Momentum and Chad Royal-Pascoe of Boys & Girls Clubs of America offered a template for building sustainable relationships. Believe it or not, it can be spelled S-U-S-T-A-I-N. That means:
* Synchronicity. This takes good timing of shared purpose, that is community-centric, with focus, targets and innovation and impact.
* Understanding. This is much deeper than knowledge. There are many people who know an organization or mission but very few who understand it.
* Situational planning. It takes analysis of the situation, keeping in mind the organization, clients, the individuals and team, available resources and broader issues.
* Teams. There has to be an element of working together for the common good.
* Audit. This is not meant to carry a connotation of someone with a clipboard looking over the shoulder of everyone who is working toward a goal. Rather, it refers to measurement, all along the line.
* Implementation. Put it into effect.
* Negotiation. This is a dialogue between two or more people/parties intended to reach a mutually beneficial outcome, resolve points of difference, gain advantage for an individual or collective or craft results that satisfy various interests.
