What is it about?
A charitable organisation will often have multiple sponsors and corporate donors. In today's digital environment Twitter is suggested as a means for the charity to help promote the sponsors and for the sponsors to promote the charity. In fact, here sponsors could even promote one another, encouraging a network of support around the charity. But does this happen? This study takes a look at the sponsorship "network" around a US based charity, Toys for Tots, and asks this very question.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
Sponsorship of a nonprofit may offer companies more than a simple "ad" could - it offers an alignment with values of giving, of support and community. It also offers the company and its employees a sense of giving back. However much of this return is intangible. Twitter (or "microblogging") on the other hand seems to be a way for the charity to help promote the partnership and encourage awareness of the alignment. Corporate sponsors could also use Twitter to support the partnership, and even encourage support among the network of sponsors. It seems an opportunity not to be missed, a way to both benefit the charity and provide more tangible promotion of the partnership.
Perspectives
There are a multitude of tools, digital environments, promotion opportunities that exist for corporations and the charities they sponsor. Each charity needs to balance their efforts with the resources they have available. Microblogging is one such tool that could be used - but in this study, its use if limited. This may be a tool worth investing time in. It could be the charity, it should be the corporation. Benefits would accrue to both.
Dr Kate Daellenbach
Victoria University of Wellington
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Helping those who help us: co-branded and co-created Twitter promotion in CSR partnerships, Journal of Brand Management, May 2017, Nature,
DOI: 10.1057/s41262-017-0053-5.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
