Shared Goals – The Key to Developing Effective Corporate Partnerships

We recently provided a webinar on developing successful corporate partnerships.  Here are the main takeaways and highlights from our presentation:

• Assess your organization’s grant readiness: Strong case for support, proven impact, financials, define programs, etc.
• Determine which companies are the right fit: Ensure mission-alignment, target passionate investors, determine what’s in it for them, and develop a partnership wish/gift list
• Build strong relationships on mutual benefit: Know their goals/guidelines, know your program officer, leverage connections, meet/ask face-to-face, and engage individuals

Hand-Heart: Photo by Kristina Litvjak on Unsplash

THREE WAYS COMPANIES CAN CONTRIBUTE:

1. Company-Sponsored Foundations
2. Cause-Related Marketing Support
3. Corporate Giving Programs or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR):
   • Employee Matching Programs/Text to Pledge
   • In-Kind Product Donations (goods, services, expertise, facilities, etc.)
   • Volunteer Grants or Dollars for Doers

Coffee Cups: Photo by Alex on Unsplash

WHAT’S IN IT FOR THEM:

Unlike foundations, companies don’t need to be charitable, so you’ll need to consider your prospective donor’s business and what will motivate sales. Win-win corporate partnerships usually combine these approaches:

• Portion of purchase (point-of-sale incentive)
• Buy a product/Give a product
• Feel-good sponsorship
• Event awareness
• Licensing agreement
• Social advocacy/digital engagement

Conducting upfront research to determine which companies would be best partners is essential to developing a win-win relationship.  Workshop participants loved our list of favorite free online research sources, so here they are:

• AnnualReport.com
• CRSWire.com – Corporate Philanthropy Index (CPI)
• DoubletheDonation.com and HEPdata.com (matching grant programs and volunteers)
• FoundationCenter and GrantSpace
• Human Rights Campaign Top Companies – Corporate Equality Index
• Impactism.org
• Magazines: CR Magazine, Forbes, Philanthropy, Reuters

Growth for Good hopes that you use these resources to develop solid relationships built to last.

“What a terrific team! Katherine and Claudia did a great job responding to our needs in planning workshops on grant writing and strategic planning for our staff, and the workshops were a hit.”– Carol Ripple, CUNY, former director of special projects