Causes, Manners, and Cooperation

A recently released Cone Cause-Evolution Study reports that 83 percent of Americans--a figure that has doubled since 1993--say they want brands to support causes. Apparently the tide has turned in this society:  Americans want companies to care about something besides their bottom lines.

The company I work for assertively throws its weight to causes in the community and beyond. It gives out micro-loans and supports monthly volunteer activities. It also raises money for causes that employees have nominated and increases its charitable profile around the holidays to serve people in need. All the employees participate, and the company's cause efforts represent a huge part of its brand. I've never seen a small company that puts so much effort into causes, and I believe the organization is rewarded in small ways and large, as it continues to grow in the midst of a recession.

Here are three reasons that cause marketing is important if you are a for-profit business:

1. It's the right thing to do. As long as corporations are given personhood, they should be contributing to the betterment of society and helping their fellow man.

2. It's expected. If 83 percent of Americans want brands to support causes, that's overwhelming evidence that it is now an expected standard of behavior. Miss Manners would approve.

3. We're running out of time. Eminent scientist and elder statesman of the environmental movement James Lovelock writes in The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning that civilization is threatened as global temperatures rise and supplies diminish. We'd best learn cooperation, and companies are no exception.