Driving Corporate Investment in Social Movements

Halloween is a really special day for me.

In 2014, I was vice president of communications at Food Allergy Research & Education and had the privilege to work with my amazing team to bring an incredible community idea into the national spotlight.

In this article I wrote in 2021, I share some of the lessons we learned from building a global grassroots movement - the impact of which is still so clear today.

One of those lessons has been on my mind of late because it's critical, yet often underutilized in our sector.

Be a bridge.

Nonprofit and social good organizations often fill a gap between government policy or services and the private sector.

Our direct services to our community are valuable, of course, and we can do even more with direct corporate partnerships and licensing deals.

But we also have the power to influence better quality of life and outcomes by helping to turn the private sector's attention to the needs of our community and demonstrating the market opportunity for better solutions.

Many times, social good movements are at their best when they can create a natural entry point for other sectors to participate in driving impact.

We can spur innovation, backed by the considerable resources of the private sector, to change lives at a greater scale than we could do alone.

10 years ago, the idea of handing out toys instead of or in addition to candy at Halloween was sacrilege.

Today, these options are commonplace in the aisles of major retailers.

And as I share in the article - while Halloween may not seem like a big deal to grownups - especially when compared to research for a cure or advocacy initiatives - it is a HUGE deal to kiddos.

Spurring the market to provide ways to make it more inclusive and joyful has changed millions of lives.

What could your willingness to be a bridge do for your community?
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My endless thanks to Becky Basalone, Anna Luke, Nancy Gregory, Brendan Coakley, and countless others who made that first year for the #TealPumpkinProject an incredible success and started a movement that changed Halloween for good for children with food allergies.

It will always be some of the most important work of my career, and every year at Halloween I receive the incredible gift of getting to see what it means to children with food allergies and their families.

See the links in the article to learn more about how you can participate in the Teal Pumpkin Project® and support Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE).