Sweet Charity

One result of consumers’ growing demand for retailers and marketers to make a positive pro-social impact is that non-profit groups are assuming a higher profile in the licensing business, especially over the past two years. They have always had a presence, of course, both as licensors and as promotional partners, but their involvement is slowly expanding in a number of ways.

A handful of initiatives in the news this year illustrates:

• Creative collaborations. Non-profits are raising funds and awareness by going into categories that are nontraditional for them and entering into collaborations with types of partners they may not have considered or been able to achieve in the past. Among Make-A-Wish’s recent pairings is a limited edition “Wish Pie” dessert pizza with WiseChoice Foods’ frozen WisePies Pizza brand. A dollar per Wish Pie sold at Walmart during November and December of this year will fund the granting of sick children’s wishes. (WiseChoice’s president’s brother received a wish from the organization as a child.) In another example, the UK charity Guide Dogs for the Blind paired with British design label Fenella Smith for a By My Side line of housewares and pet products, including bowls and mugs, treat jars, and gift-wrapped accessories. A percentage of proceeds go to support the organization, with a minimum donation of $3,200 from Smith, whose label extends into vegan accessories, gifts, home goods, and beauty and is about colorful self-expression.

• Licensee-driven programs for a cause. Blu Goblin, a marketer of limited-edition collectibles to support charitable organizations, partnered with Bullseye, a classic British game show combining darts and quizzes, to create collectibles to benefit the Stroke Association. One product is a 40th anniversary replica of the Bronze Bully Trophy given out during the show, which aired in its original run for 14 years and has been on the air, including the original and reruns, for 40 years. Jim Bowen, presenter of the series for its entire original run on ITV, experienced a number of strokes late in life. In another example, Funko paired with Make-A-Wish, offering a collection of Pops! vinyl figures of Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm characters as part of its new Pops with Purpose program. The products feature a sticker and box art noting that Funko has made a charitable donation of $15,000 to the organization. Funko also hosted in-store activations for Make-A-Wish recipients at select GameStop stores during April.

• New groups entering the fray. The Fifteen Percent Pledge, founded in 2020 to get retailers to commit to having 15% of their products sourced from black-owned companies, launched its first licensed product collection, with Old Navy, which is also donating $500,000 to the organization. The initiative is an expansion of Old Navy’s partnership with Project WE, which creates t-shirts by diverse emerging artists. The new partnership calls for curated collections of t-shirts for release through 2023. Separately, Black Lives Matter Licensing, the organization charged with brand extensions on behalf of the Black Lives Matter Movement in the U.K. (among other activities), recently announced that it had received a Black Lives Matter trademark in that country, allowing it to expand the group’s name and logos into consumer products and other commercial extensions.

• No longer an afterthought. Licensors and licensees have long brought in non-profit groups to support causes and give their brands and licensed and collaborative products a positive halo in the eyes of consumers. These were often considered “overlays,” treated as a secondary component of the program. Now, the partnering cause is more often placed front-and-center by the partners, often as the prime reason a particular collection or initiative exists. When Tommy Bahama entered the pet category through an exclusive with PetSmart including clothing, beds, and toys, it noted prominently that 5% of the retail price would be donated to PetSmart Charities to rescue homeless pets in the U.S. and Canada as a core component of the partnership. Marketers’ growing support of LGBTQ+ charities, especially as part of Pride Month, is another example. Dorel Home and Scout Productions donated $10,000 from June sales of Queer Eye Home Collection furniture, exclusive to Walmart, to The Ali Forney Center, which operates secure and inclusive housing centers for LGBTQ+ youth. This was second year the partners, which also donated furniture, have supported the organization.

As some of these examples show, there is often a logical connection between the property and the non-profit organization—a company executive’s or star’s personal experience with the cause, for example—which makes the initiative more meaningful and authentic to both the partners and consumers.

It should also be noted that the expansion of charitable initiatives is particularly pronounced in the U.S., where non-profit groups have historically faced some challenges as they tried to make a mark in the licensing landscape. In the U.K., on the other hand, where some of the examples above have taken place, charitable licensing has long had a higher profile and wider distribution than it has in the U.S. market.