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:
- Company-Sponsored Foundations
- Cause-Related Marketing Support
- 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
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
