Cause-driven campaigns are hitting the mark with sports fans

The GIST: The wholesome content your FYP is missing? The latest slam dunk from the Atlanta Dream and Cash App. Yesterday, these partners-in-hoops collaborated with ForgiveCo to wipe out $10M in debt for local families.

• Community-driven initiatives have become standard practice for financial institutions looking to leverage the goodwill generated by supporting women’s sports teams and transform it into brand loyalty. Talk about a bank shot.

The details: The program — one of many between the Dream and Cash App since they announced their partnership in May — is providing economic opportunity for 3.5K local recipients by eliminating debts ranging from $500 to $80K. And this is par for the course for the Dream, who have prioritized giving back to their community, an important prerogative Cash App has aligned themselves with.

The trend: Financial institutions continue to go all-in on women’s sports, whether it’s Aflac contributing $115K to the prize pool at WNBA All-Star Weekend — cash that Skills Challenge winner Natasha Cloud is planning to use to buy a house — or State Farm’s WNBA Assist Tracker that (in collaboration with the NBA) has resulted in $3.2M in community initiative donations.

Zooming out: These intentional, community-driven sponsorships are hitting the mark with sports fans: Per a June report from Parity, more than one-third of women’s sports fans agree that cause-driven campaigns positively impact brand engagement, the highest rating among different types of activations.

• But that’s not all: A whopping 89% of American consumers prioritize supporting brands that share their values, and since 77% of those same consumers stay loyal to brands they love, aligning media spend with cause-driven initiatives isn’t just principled — it’s profitable. Stacks on stacks.