Corporate Communities Consulting
Glossary of Terms

Advocacy Alliance: An arrangement where a group of non-profits and corporations or private sector firms work towards mutually beneficial goals, such as changes in public policies, self-regulation, or negotiating acceptable standards of operation. The relationships may be formal or informal, and usually are formed in response to a particular issue.

Brand: The sum of all the tangible and intangible characteristics that make an organization, company, product or service unique, and the consumer perceptions of that product or service. Increasingly, many experts are considering a brand to be more interactive, reflecting the relationship between a given product (or service) and the consumer.

Branding: A process by which a brand and brand identity are developed and communicated to all stakeholders. Large multinational consumer products firms are perhaps the best known branding experts, but more recently, many service firms, non-profit organizations, cities, and even countries are placing more emphasis on their branding efforts.

Brand Equity: The value of a brand as an asset to a corporation or non-profit organization. In Building Strong Brands, David Aaker outlines the four key elements of brand equity: brand name awareness, brand loyalty, perceived quality, and brand associations.

Business Ecosystem: The entire scope of organizations that are affected by or contribute to the operation of a business, including direct and indirect customers, suppliers, distributors, government agencies, standards bodies, trade associations, labour unions, competing organizations, and others. Much like the members of a biological ecosystem (which is made up of animals, plants and their surrounding physical environment), members of a business ecosystem are affected either directly or indirectly by the actions of every other member in their community.

Cause Branding: Carol Cone, CEO of Cone, Inc., used this term to describe the evolution of cause marketing from a short-term promotional tactic to a more strategic approach that integrates commitment to a particular cause into a core component of an organization's business strategy. Murray Morgan, President of Corporate Communities Consulting, spoke with Carol at the IEG conference in Chicago where she delivered a terrific cause branding case study with one of her clients: ConAgra's 'Feeding Children Better' initiative.

Cause Related Marketing (CRM): A partnership between corporations and causes that benefits both the businesses involved and society, where a brand strengthens its image through support of a cause in the non-profit sector.

Coalition: An alliance of independent corporations and/or organizations that decide to work together to achieve a specific political or social goal. By forming a larger network, the group of partners can pool resources and create a more powerful advocacy voice.

Corporate Community: A group of organizations from multiple sectors of business and society that coalesce around common marketing goals, where the causes and needs of the public and non-profit sectors become the fuel for the marketing success of the private sector. An integral part of the latest frontier for marketing, which includes the recent emergence of cause marketing and cause branding.

Corporate Community Investment: A group of organizations from multiple sectors of business and society that coalesce around common marketing goals, where the causes and needs of the public and non-profit sectors become the fuel for the marketing success of the private sector. An integral part of the latest frontier for marketing, which includes the recent emergence of cause marketing and cause branding.

Corporate Community Relations: The title of a book by Edmund M. Burke, the founder of The Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College. He defines this term as "the state of relations between the company and the communities in which it has a presence or impact. It encompasses programs that advance the interests of both the company and its communities, such as donations, employee volunteerism, and community partnerships."

Corporate Social Marketing (CSM): A powerful, if often misunderstood strategy that uses marketing principles and techniques to foster behavior change in a target population, improving society while at the same time building markets for products or services.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): This term describes the interaction of a corporation with its stakeholders, including employees, customers, investors, government, distributors and suppliers. CSR Europe began in 1995 when the corporate sector voluntarily began to look for new ways to enhance their social responsibility. This may include investment in community programs, employee relations, financial accountability and environmental impact, among others.

Corporate Sponsorship: Financial support of a project or property by a corporation in exchange for publicity and other benefits associated with the property. A trend is emerging to consider sponsorship as a marketing direction rather than a simple donation. See also Strategic Philanthropy.

In-Kind Sponsorship: Payment of a sponsorship fee with products or services instead of cash, resulting in creative synergies of benefit to both parties.

Marketing: The process of finding, recognizing or creating opportunities to promote an organization, and then planning and executing the conception, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services.

Municipal Marketing: A partnership strategy between a corporation and specific municipal services or programs, brought about by the trend of municipalities increasing their branding efforts and exploring non-traditional revenue-generating opportunities.

Non-Governmental Organization (NGO): This term is used to describe non-profit or voluntary organizations, often aligned with a particular cause (e.g. Greenpeace or World Wildlife Fund). Research indicates consumer trust of NGOs is significantly higher than either government or the private sector in Europe, and is moving in that direction in North America.

Non-Profit Sector: One of the three sectors of the economy, consisting of charities, causes, and other organizations working towards social improvement instead of financial profit. The two other sectors are the Private Sector and the Public Sector.

Private Sector: One of the three sectors of the economy, consisting of businesses, corporations and other "for profit" enterprises. The two other sectors are the Public Sector and the Non-Profit Sector.

Public Sector: One of the three sectors of the economy, consisting of government and government agencies. The two other sectors are the Non-Profit Sector and the Private Sector.

Public-Private Partnership (P3): A collaboration between a government agency (public sector) and a private sector corporation or group of companies for community improvement. Examples include partnerships to finance or develop major infrastructure projects such as healthcare facilities or highway systems.

Social Marketing: The use of commercial marketing techniques to alter public opinion about a particular social issue.

Solution Communities: A term coined by Corporate Communities Consulting to describe our unique approach to linking corporations, government and non-profit organizations in order to solve operational, funding and marketing challenges. The resulting solution community benefits all parties involved.

Sponsorship: A transaction between two parties in which financial consideration is exchanged for purchase of a tangible such as advertising or event participation. See also In-Kind Sponsorship.

Stakeholder: A group or individual who can affect, or is affected by, the activities of a corporation or an organization. These groups are often vital to the survival and success of the organization and may include customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers, agents, sponsors and regulatory agencies.

Strategic Alliances: A collaboration in which partners combine their resources to meet mutually agreed objectives, such as changes in public policy or business goals. Usually these alliances are long-term, complex and have a significant impact on the success of the strategic partners.

Strategic Corporate Philanthropy: An evolution of traditional philanthropy, where corporations making donations to the non-profit sector look for return on social investments due to pressures to increase bottom-line results. Historically, this return could have included such benefits as increased public awareness and positive impact on corporate reputation. More recently, and particularly given the influential research by Michael Porter, real strategic philanthropy is defined as enhancing a company's competitive position.

Synergy: The combined or cooperative action of separate agencies, which have greater total effect together than the sum of their individual efforts.

Three Sector: The three key components of the economy that are beginning to explore new ways of working more effectively together. See also Public Sector, Private Sector and Non-Profit Sector.