"A consummate marketing executive/entrepreneur, Bruce's knowledge of cause marketing, publicity, fund raising and new business development is second to none. At once thoughtful and critical, ethical and aggressive, creative and methodical. Blessed with "fire in the belly" motivation, he's articulate, persuasive, a born leader."
J. David Pincus, Ph.D., Author and former Chair, MBA Program, University of Arkansas
Bruce W. Burtch brings a unique blend of national marketing executive, Fortune 100 consultant, successful entrepreneur and award-winning designer of cause marketing and fund development campaigns. He is part Board Room savvy, part roll-up-the-sleeves, in-the-trenches guerrilla marketer, with a dash of electric passion and contagious humor.
From the very beginning of his career, Bruce has been at the leading-edge of promotional marketing and partnership building. Well before the term “cause marketing” was first used, Bruce was setting sales and fund development records through his uncanny ability to match the right partners and design innovative, attention-grabbing marketing campaigns. His first major partnership, between Marriott Corporation and the March of Dimes, resulted in raising $2.5 million - a record-breaking 40% increase in funds raised. More recently he designed and directed the country’s most successful emergency preparedness campaign for the American Red Cross, which resulted in raising $1.25 million in donations, garnered $3 million in free media coverage and was instrumental in training an unprecedented 1,000,000 Bay Area residents.
In 1977 Bruce coined the term, "Do Well by Doing Good" when asked by the head of a major corporate foundation what he wanted to do with his life. This phrase has become the mantra of the cause marketing field. Today, Bruce is a nationally-recognized cause marketing catalyst with the personal mission of motivating for-profit and nonprofit organizations to develop win-win partnerships which maximize their strategic marketing, sales and fund development. Along the way:
Director of Marketing & Communications for the American Red Cross Bay Area, the 5th largest chapter out of 760 in the country
Director of Public Relations and Special Event Fund Raising for the United States Olympic Committee
Conceived and directed the marketing of the Forum on Public/Private Partnerships which brought together 400 Bay Area executives from government, nonprofit, educational and corporate organizations. Produced by Leadership San Francisco.
Founder and CEO of The William Bentley Agency, a highly successful integrated marketing agency
Founder and CEO of Burtch Barone, a product development company which placed its patented products in over 1,200 of the country’s most upscale stores
Founder and Executive Director of the University of Leadership, an internet-based nonprofit leadership and entrepreneurial skills training program
Conceived and co-founded the nationally-acclaimed HonorsTutorialCollege at OhioUniversity, the nation’s only degree-granting college based on the Oxford-Cambridge tutorial system
A dedicated community leader, Bruce has served on numerous nonprofit Boards, served as President of the San Francisco Special Olympics, has received several Certificates of Honor from Bay Area mayors' offices, and personal letters of commendation from President Bill Clinton and Senator Dianne Feinstein. In 1993, Bruce was awarded the Distinguished Leadership Award, presented by the National Association of Community Leadership for spearheading the building of the Tenderloin After-School Program in San Francisco's most crime ridden neighborhood…a program alive and very well 16 years later.
Bruce’s clients have included the U.S. Olympic Committee, Marriott Corporation, AT&T, Xerox, Chevron, Special Olympics, Mobil, American Red Cross, San Francisco Examiner, The USS Potomac Association, and many more.
