Corporate scrutiny over the past few decades has shown us the rising importance of non-profit partnerships. However, many non-profits fail to secure valuable corporate partnerships because they don’t frame it the right way. Here are some things a non-profit need to do to form a successful corporate partnership:
- You want to be clear on the reason you want to partner with them. What’s your charity’s goal and how could corporate partnerships help you achieve it?
- Let the corporation you are trying to partnership know what’s in it for them. That’s not to say that all corporations are self-centered and don’t care about helping children or funding autism research. You just need to put it in terms of the benefits to them, rather than overwhelming them with another problem there is in the world. Let the corporation know how they can be the solution to a problem, how they can be the hero.
- Identify areas of your charitable work that companies are likely to find interesting. A homeless charity may have a project that enables people to learn new skills so they can gain employment. This is very likely to appeal to companies because they understand the value of employment and it could offer some interesting volunteering opportunities for their employees.
- Show the corporation how working together will increase their customer community engagement. Only then will the company commit the time, creativity and resources required to raise your profile and scale your social impact.
- Offer to help co-create branded content using different media, you can position the partnership as a way to ease this burden while enhancing the company’s reputation.
As with any relationship, once the benefit to the other party is clear they will more readily share their time, expertise and resources. Without such an approach, the best of intentions and heart-felt commitment can fall on deaf ears, leaving both parties and the community at large at a loss.
Last Updated on April 18, 2017 by The Orlando Law Group