Last week, six judges spent hours in a closed conference room debating the merits of cause programs in 8 separate Halo Award categories. Representing the business and nonprofit sectors as well as the agency world, judges evaluated everything from authenticity to social impact. The best of the submissions were able to prove that, not only did the campaign move the needle for a social cause, the partnership also generated demonstrable business results.

In a webinar earlier this month, Perry Yeatman of Mission Measurement shared her contention that the starting point of any strategic partnership should be the business outcome, not the cause. Whether that business outcome is saving money or making money, social impact efforts must be tied to mission critical activities in order to garner needed budgets and attention.

Mission Measurement is in the process of developing industry benchmarks to help companies gauge the business value of social impact. As a starting point, Perry recommends asking the following questions when considering a social impact partnership:

• What business outcomes is company leadership most interested in today?
• What social outcomes most closely align with those business outcomes?
• In what ways could your team move the needle on those outcomes?
• How does what you could be doing based on the above compare to what your are doing - considering both outcomes and programming?

We'll be announcing the winners of the Halo Awards in just a few months at the annual Cause Marketing Forum Conference in Chicago. Join us to hear best practices in moving social impact from add-on afterthought to mission critical mainstay.

Sincerely,