The 3rd Annual Companies & Causes Canada Conference will take place on November 3, 2016 in Toronto, Ontario. The conference is designed to support corporate citizenship efforts.
Featuring top Canadian brands including Unilever, MLSE Foundation, Manulife,
General Mills, CIBC and Uber.
The conference is geared towards sharing the story-behind-the-story. This is the kind of thing you won’t hear anywhere else. All with the express purpose of providing you with practical advice you can use to save time and resources.
Here’s the magic about the Companies & Causes Canada conference: you never know where these nuggets will come from. Sometimes it’s from the podium as you listen to a brand that’s been around the cause block a few times. But sometimes it comes from the person sitting next to you during a breakout session as you strike up a conversation.
Often, it’s both.
2016 Program
8:00 am cibc Breakfast and Bonding! (Sponsored by CIBC)
Expand your circle of corporate citizenship colleagues by breaking bread together and engaging in an enjoyable ice breaker.
8:30 am Welcome
Our third conference is dedicated to helping you take your efforts to the next level. Companies & Causes Canada President David Hessekiel kicks off our exploration of what it means to be ‘On Purpose’ with a structured networking exercise.
8:50 am Canadian Consumer Research Premiere
Get the latest insights into Canadian consumer attitudes towards corporate citizenship and cross-sector partnerships from Ipsos Marketing Vice President Jessica Avery.
9:10 am From Checkwriting to Launchpad
For years the MLSE Foundation funded charities that support kids through sports and recreational programs and facilities refurbishment. Determined to have even greater impact, the foundation is building its own complex to serve at-risk Toronto youth and to test programming that could be replicated by other organizations. Operations Director Tanya Mruck unpacks lessons learned in the move to create the MLSE Launchpad.
9:30 am Case Study: Becel and the Heart Health
A focus on championing heart health has helped Becel grow to be Canada’s #1 margarine over the last 25 years. The brand has always stayed true to its purpose, and has evolved its communications style over the years to better connect with consumers. Jon Affleck, Unilever’s General Manager for Baking, Cooking & Spreads Canada, lays out insights that will benefit your information sharing.
9:50 am Keys to Long-Term Partnership Success
The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure is a trailblazing partnership involving communities and volunteers across Canada that has changed the face of breast cancer. To mark the 20th year of the bank’s title sponsorship of the Run, we’ll premiere a white paper revealing techniques that can help you create longer-lasting collaborations.
10:10 am Break
10:30 am Your Choice of Breakout Sessions:
Supercharging Employee Engagement Through Job Purposing: Employees are hungry for their work to have societal impact, but only a minority take part in traditional workplace volunteering programs. Many nonprofits find it very hard to satisfy business requests for volunteering opportunities. In a highly interactive session, learn from Veraworks President Bea Boccalandro how the powerful concept of job purposing will enable you to tackle these problems (repeated in PM).
Feeding the Social Media Machine: In our multi-channel age, the need for content related to corporate social initiatives can seem insatiable. SickKids Foundation’s Integrated Brand Marketing Director Kate Torrance and Sponsorship and Cause Marketing Director Paula Menzes offer practical lessons on how company/cause partners can more effectively produce content that generates business and social impact (repeated in PM).
For Nonprofits Only: Developing New and Stronger Corporate Relationships: Finding it challenging to form substantial new corporate alliances? The Sponsorship Collective President Chris Baylis will brief you on the trends impacting company/cause relationships. Then you’ll participate in a highly tactical, skills-based session on connecting with corporate contacts, creating dialogue that yields partnership opportunities and managing win-win programs (repeated in PM).
For Corporates Only: Senior Business Leader Discussion
Public Inc. CEO Phillip Haid facilitates a dialogue with senior corporate citizenship executives on how to frame, develop and measure social impact as a key business driver (morning only).
11:45 am Pre-Lunch Networking Break
12:00 pm Lunch (Sponsored by Manulife)
1:00 pm Welcome
Derrick Feldmann —a noted expert in cause engagement— and author of “Social Movements for Good: How Companies & Causes Create Viral Change” reveals what it takes to reach the donors, activists, employees, and supporters who will make your movement go viral and create the change you and your followers envision.
1:45 pm Your Choice of Breakout Sessions:
Supercharging Employee Engagement Through Job Purposing (repeat of AM session)
Feeding the Social Media Machine (repeat of AM session)
For Nonprofits Only: Developing New and Stronger Corporate Relationships (repeat of AM session)
For Nonprofits Only: Senior Nonprofit Leader Discussion (afternoon only) Join us for a facilitated discussion of key issues of concern to senior nonprofit alliance development executives (only open to nonprofit executives).
2:45 pm Break
3:00 pm On Purpose
Companies & Causes Canada President David Hessekiel leads us in a group exploration of how we can partner more effectively
3:20 pm Trends Impacting Tomorrow’s Company/Cause Alliances
adam_starkmanSocietal trends and significant changes in digital commerce are having dramatic effects on collaborations between businesses and nonprofits. For example, what will happen to point of sale fundraising as shopping moves increasingly online? Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Chief Development Officer Adam Starkman offers tools and insights to help you prepare for doing well by doing good in 2020 and beyond.
3:40 pm General Mills Canada: Taking Purposeful Risks to Build A Better World and the Bottom Line
Recently multiple General Mills Canada brands have defied the traditional packaged goods playbook with successful purpose-driven campaigns. For example: Multi-Grain Cheerios challenged the concept of dieting. Nature Valley went all in with a campaign encouraging people to rediscover nature. Honey Nut Cheerios removed its bee mascot from packaging for six weeks as part of a save the honeybees campaign. Learn how the company is more effectively integrating the pursuit of profit and purpose from Director of Marketing Emma Eriksson.
4:00 pm Uber: Mixing Puppies and Public Affairs
uber-dogIn a few short years, Uber has revolutionized transportation in most major cities around the world. Along the way it has generated its share of controversy. Toronto Marketing Manager Brett Chang describes how Uber has experimented with using its app and network to build good will via programs such as providing free rides home to inebriated consumers and promoting pet adoption by transporting shelter dogs for 15-minute office minutes.
4:20 pm Closing Remarks
4:40 pm – 5:30 pm Post-Conference Reception (Sponsored by Public, Inc.) PUBLIC FLAG Smaller
Debrief after a content-packed day with a beverage at this post-conference reception. Quite possibly the best time to compare notes and continue your networking experience!
Friday, November 4
8:00 am – 11:00 am What’s Next for Employee Volunteering in Canada? (Focus group sponsored by Manifest – By Invitation Only)
More and more companies are looking for exciting ways to engage their employees in giving back. This focus group of 14 of Canada’s leading corporate citizens will explore current employee volunteer models – from team walks/runs/bikes to group clean up days to skills-based volunteering – to better understand what’s working, what needs work and what an ideal employee volunteerism program could look like. The results will be shared with all participants following the conference to help both charities and corporations explore new opportunities in employer-supported volunteer programming in Canada.
To register click here.
