August 5, 2005

Congratulations to Sandy Corson, who has just been named Vice President of Rawle Murdy!! Sandy has worked with us for 19 years, responsibly managing the firm's financial operations. An inspiration for all of us, Sandy is a beacon of integrity, commitment, and compassion.

Philanthropy and Marketing

I've just been reading about the endless summer charity benefits going on in Long Island. And, there was another article a couple of days ago about the incredible amounts of money that hedge fund managers are making - and giving - to charity. Competition for their favor is fierce.

One evening event for the Robin Hood Foundation took in $32 million.

I remember going to a fund raiser for Bette Midler's park foundation, and Rosie O'Donnell auctioned off a dog for $22,000. I thought that was a big deal. But, among today's super-rich, that was chicken feed. At a recent fund raiser, Jamie Niven was asked to auction off "investments" in New York's public school libraries. He thought he would sell five. In 30 seconds, he sold 21 to people who raised their hand to make pledges of $250,000 each.

So there's a flush of funny money out there right now. It won't last. But, for the moment, it's there. And the non-profit sector is benefiting (in both senses of the word!).

I've always wondered why - (in general) - non-profits have strong commitments to development (fund raising) but not nearly commensurate commitments to marketing.

How often does a major non-profit truly brand itself and then live that brand position?

United Way does it well on a national level, because it has a first-rate ex-advertising industry wiz running that effort.

But how would you describe the brand of who the Red Cross is, or the Salvation Army, for example? Why aren't they trying to own a share of our minds by marketing themselves in as dynamic a way as the better for-profit products and services are marketed?

When the non-profit industry wakes up to this shortcoming, the benefits it sees will outshine anything that's happening in the Hamptons this summer.