How to Develop Effective Nonprofit-Corporate Partnerships

Nonprofits need money. Corporations have money. Corporations want good PR. Supporting a nonprofit can give them good PR—and a significant financial boost. This codependent relationship explains why corporations willingly allocate tens of billions of dollars per year to nonprofits.

But don’t expect a corporation to come knocking on your nonprofit’s door with a hefty check in hand. Nonprofits have to work to get corporate sponsorship. Luckily, it’s not too hard to get support if you do it right. 

Choose the right partners

When looking for a corporation to support your nonprofit, make sure it’s the right fit. For example, a zoo or a reptile conservancy would have better luck getting sponsorship from Fluckers’s—which is a company that sells products for reptile hobbyists—than, say, Walmart.

Another consideration—and an important one—is to choose corporations in your area. Sponsors don’t always have to be related to your cause; for them, it’s enough to be recognized for supporting a good cause. (More on that below). 

Get the sponsorship

Once you’ve identified potential sponsors, it’s time to make your pitch. Before doing that, however, do your homework. Make sure you know the company’s goals and mission. That way, you’ll be better able to explain what the corporation will get out of the relationship. (Plus, it looks downright unprofessional to approach a company and know nothing about them.)

Remember, companies are interested in their bottom line, not philanthropy for the sake of doing good. That’s why they seek partnerships—it positions them as caring members of the communities they’re a part of. After all, what company doesn’t want to be known for sponsoring a program, say, for helping disadvantaged children?

Partnering with a nonprofit is also a marketing opportunity for companies—and you need to emphasize this. Find out what they’re needs are and explain how sponsorship—oops, partnership—can meet those needs. Tell them:

• Their company’s name and logo will appear on signage, banners, T-shirts, etc.
• Their name and logo will get an estimated X number of impressions.
• They’ll be recognized in the media, etc.

Even invite the officers of the company to one of your biggest events (perhaps a yearly gala or black-tie event, if you have one). That way, they’ll see how other sponsors are recognized, meet other movers-and-shakers in the community, and (hopefully) be impressed with professionalism and success of the event.

Grow the relationship

Now that you have a corporate sponsor(s), you want to grow the relationship. One of the best ways to do that is to give them benefits and recognition. 

Make sure you have a corporate-level donation group. For example, an aquarium could call their corporate donation group “The Great Whales.” Great Whale donors could get special benefits for their employees, or if that’s not economically feasible, the company’s officers and their families. Benefits could include:

• Behind-the-Scenes Tours.
• Free or reduced admission to events.
• Transferable membership cards.
• Invitations to VIP events.
• Insider news.

The list of special benefits you can offer is endless and will depend on your type of organization. Another thing to do is give them the recognition they deserve. For example:

• Photograph their logo wherever it appears at your events. If it’s on a banner—shoot it. If it’s on an A-Frame sign—shoot it. If an event-goer is wearing a T-shirt with their logo—shoot it. When possible, include people in the photos.
• Recognize them in all social media related to any events they sponsor.
• Recognize them in emails and direct mail pieces related to any events they sponsor.
• Include them in an annual contributors’ publication, including the amount donated. Create special donor levels, i.e. Gold-Level, Silver-Level, Bronze-Level, etc.

Maintain the relationship

Remember, corporations aren’t giving you money out of the goodness of their hearts—and that’s not meant as criticism. Corporations are in business to make money. Show them how they benefited from the relationship. One of the best ways to do that is to give them metrics, such as:

• The number of impressions they received from email blasts.
• Impressions from advertisements.
• Impressions from direct mail.
• The number people who attended events they sponsored.
• The number of impressions they received in email blasts.
• The number of impressions they received in social media.

A good idea is to include all of that information into a year-end album, as if it’s a gift of sorts.

Make the album thorough and aesthetically pleasing. Use a lot of photos from events. Use screen shots where their name and logo appeared in digital media, as well as images of direct mail pieces, publications and any other appropriate collateral.

Now the most important part: monetize the data. This can be done using Ad Value Equivalence and other tools.

As long as you can show them you helped their bottom line, you’ll be able to maintain the relationship.

Tags: corporate, nonprofits