September 16, 2020

charity: water’s MZ Goodman on Bringing Subscriptions to the Nonprofit World

29 minutes

Charity: water’s MZ Goodman joins Robbie to share how she is applying subscription model best practices to a nonprofit. They discuss how MZ leverages content marketing and digital community strategies developed in her work at The New York Times, Glossier and goop to build a donation-based subscription model, how they’ve leveraged a single 20-minute video to raise millions, and how to think about a Forever Promise in the context of engaging donors.

Highlights from this episode:

2:00 - The birth of The Spring, charity: water’s subscription program

5:44 - Why a mission is the most important factor for attracting subscribers

7:15 - The importance of building a brand based on quality over charisma

11:00 - How to lure customers in with emotion, and make them stay through strong relationships

15:00 - Why charity: water is allowing subscribers to press “pause” during the COVID-19 pandemic to combat high churn rates

17:26 - Ways for nonprofits to allow members to remain active without opening their checkbooks

19:00 - MZ’s advice for product leaders who want to transition to the nonprofit world

20:24 - the differences between building a community at a news company, a make-up company, and a nonprofit

24:20 - Robbie’s Speed Round

MZ's Bio:

MZ Goodman is a product and marketing executive with expertise in digital products and subscriptions. MZ began as the Product Management Executive Director for The New York Times in 2007, managing the digital product team as the company first created its online subscription product. From there, MZ joined Ralph Lauren as Product Management Senior Director and was then recruited to join the leadership team at goop. After goop, MZ joined Glossier as Vice President of Digital and Business Insights. She now serves as Senior Vice President of Subscription at charity: water where she oversees consumer and subscriber revenue. MZ earned a BA in journalism from Boston University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Links:

MZ’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mz-goodman/

Charity: water’s The Spring: https://www.charitywater.org/donate/the-spring?utm_medium=ppc&utm_source=adwords&utm_content=spring_sitelink&utm_campaign=sitelinks_paid&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8qfi24rl6wIVzMDACh0cdQYdEAAYASABEgJ_KfD_BwE

Robbie’s Website: https://robbiekellmanbaxter.com/

Robbie’s Book THE FOREVER TRANSACTION: https://robbiekellmanbaxter.com/the-forever-transaction/

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