Youth Noise, a social networking site for people under the age of 27 who like to connect based on deeper interests than Paris Hilton’s wardrobe and who want to get engaged within a cause, just hosted its inaugural DROP Water Summit at Parsons New School for Design in New York. The November 15 summit convened youth environmentalists, social entrepreneurs, innovative leaders, and revolutionary thinkers to discuss water issues and develop projects around global water challenges. Check out the DROP Summit event photos.

A wise old marketing sage once asked me, “What’s a newspaper in business for?”

“To deliver timely, accurate, and impartial news everyday to their subscribers,” I proudly responded as a young ad man trying to impress his mentor. “Wrong,” he said. “Newspapers are in the business to make money! If they’re not making money, they can’t deliver the news,” he snorted. Great point, and an even better lesson.

The next time you consider asking a for-profit company to sponsor your non-profit cause, first ask yourself the question, “What’s in it for them?” Sure, they want to be a good corporate citizen. That’s a given. What’s really the crux of the question is how can engagement with you and your organization bump up their bottom line while doing good for the community?

You must get inside their heads before you can get inside their pockets.

- Park Howell

Acclaimed marketing professors Philip Kotler and Nancy Lee authored an insightful college textbook called Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing the Most Good for Your Company and Your Cause. This book is filled with best practices on private/public partnerships with companies like The Home Depot, Ben & Jerry’s and Hewlett-Packard. Because it’s written for corporate managers in community relations and corporate giving and marketing, it offers non-profit leaders valuable insight into how companies choose causes and how to best align your mission with their mentality.

Here are ten recommendations from the final chapter, A Marketing Approach to Winning Corporate Funding and Support for Social Initiatives.

1. Start by developing a list of social issues that your organization or agency is currently charged with supporting and that would benefit from additional resources. Be specific.
2. Identify a short list of corporations that these social issues might have a connection with, something that relates to their business mission, products and services, customer base, employee passions, communities where they do business, and/or their corporate giving history.
3. Approach corporations and/or their communication agencies and find out more about their interests and experiences relative to supporting social initiatives.
4. Listen to their business needs.
5. Share with them the social issues your organization supports, the initiatives you are considering or engaged in, and your strengths and resources. Find out which, if any, they find most appealing.
6. Prepare and submit a proposal to those corporations most interested in your social issues. Present several optional initiatives for potential support, ones that are the best match for their stated business and marketing needs.
7. Participate in developing an implementation plan.
8. Offer to handle as much of the administrative legwork as possible.
9. Assist in measuring and reporting outcomes.
10. Provide recognition for the corporation’s contribution in ways preferred by the company.

If you have thoughts on how to approach companies to support your cause, or a terrific case study you’d like to share, please do so in the comment box below.

It’s no secret that Obama embraced social media during his campaign, and it helped him win his presidency. By reaching out through a channel underutilized by other candidates, Obama projected himself through Twitter, YouTube and Facebook to talk with voters.

If you think this was just taking advantage of a fad to appeal to younger people, think again. Social media isn’t going anywhere, and this administration-elect seems to understand this. Not only has Obama put out a website to keep an open line of communication for his transition period, he’s announced that instead of having a weekly radio address, he will post his addresses as YouTube videos. This is a truly combustible idea, in my opinion. Here is Obama’s first video as President-elect:

What a refreshing step in communication to the public. By creating content that works with the social media model, he’s allowing users to do what they will with his content. They can openly embed, share and contribute uncensored criticism to the content he puts forward, just as social media does with other content. It’s an openness that I appreciate, and one that I’m not used to seeing from the office of the President.

Everyone knows a Twitter addict, and I have a friend who is addicted. Think I might need to send her to TTA (Twitter Twinkle Anonymous).

Twinkle is one of the newest social media apps, a geo-location powered Twitter, created by Tapulous in Palo Alto, California. “We love iPhone. And we love to build things, so we got together to build a family of fun, social apps for iPhone and share them with the world.”

With Twinkle, you can follow, connect and discover people in your area and directly around you with GPS location. You can find people sitting in the same area as you, such as the airport or in a coffee shop, and join their discussion. You can also update your Twitter account and upload photos from your iPhone and iPod Touch.

I might have to buy a iPhone just to play with this cool application.

We live for building great brands, creating combustible ideas, and taking long walks at sunset. You are a lit fuse of brand strategy skills, writing and presentation abilities, and odd behavior we can poke fun at. You love to manage, lead, motivate and train, but not necessarily in that order. You know how to work a budget and stay profitable—so well, in fact, that you always have coin to treat a co-worker to happy hour. You take on challenges gladly, suck up to others badly, and above all, refuse to use the word “solution” except in reference to an algebra problem.

These are the things we hold dear. These are the standards by which we judge. If you or someone you know possess these qualities (and any others we can take full advantage of), send us a note.

Download a job description (PDF).

If casting your vote in the most significant election of our lifetime weren’t motivation enough, maybe the knowledge that your “I Voted” sticker will get you free treats will get you out of your seat.

When you leave your polling place, first swing by Krispy Kreme for a free star-shaped donut with red, white, and blue sprinkles. Don’t take that first bite, though, until you’ve hit your favorite Starbucks for free tall coffee to wash it down. After the work day, keep that sticker on while you pop into the closest Ben & Jerry’s for a free scoop of ice cream.

Ready to start noshing but not sure where to get that essential “I Voted” sticker? Find your polling place, eligibility information, and instructions at the League of Women Voters’ website.

Usually my Halloweens are spent in appreciation of the fact that a good costume now means as little clothing as possible. However, this year turned out to be a little different and I’d like to share a few lessons learned.

First, don’t trust your 4-year-old niece if she tells you she’ll give you all of her Bit O’ Honeys at the night’s end. Not true. Normally I’d have a hard time calling a 4-year-old a liar, but not this time. She lied and it’s going to take a lot to repair this relationship.

Second, trick or treating has gone from neighborhood fun to all out competition. You shouldn’t wake up the next day feeling like you’ve played a full 60 minutes at full back.

However, the best lesson I pulled out of Halloween this year is that you better stand out. Play it safe and you lose. Last week at Park&Co headquarters, amid the costumes, bratwurst burning and pumpkin carving contest, stood a stark contrast in commitment. On one hand you had me, opting for a sensible Halloween shirt.

On the other hand was Josh. A man so dedicated that he turned himself into the ultimate Halloween icon.

Now a lot of you out there are thinking what I was thinking. “What an idiot. I can’t believe he would embarrass himself like this.” Now, the idiot part is debatable. However, what cannot be debated is the fact that this idiot walked away with the pumpkin carving title even though my group championed our strategic thinking throughout the carving process.

Bottom line is this guy went above and beyond to garner attention. We were safe. He took a risk and he got the reward. No one is going to remember that we elegantly carved the Park&Co logo into a pumpkin, but everyone is going to remember the pumpkin head jamming cake into his fat pumpkin face.

That’s how brands succeed. The good ones bypass the cute Halloween shirt and carve their niche to leave an indelible mark. Or in some cases, they just carve a hole big enough to fit their head through.

Check out the rest of the Park&Co Halloween pictures at our Flickr account.