What we know about corporate giving
Establishing these kinds of connections isn’t without its own challenges. Across the country, there are hundreds of thousands of businesses with strong connections to the communities in which they operate, and that their employees and customers
care about. But as our latest research into corporate giving highlights, beyond the FTSE 100,
only one in four businesses supported charities in 2023.
We estimate that if all companies gave at least 1% of their pre-tax profits, charities could receive a possible £5 billion of extra funding per year. Mobilising even a fraction
of these corporate funds could be transformative for the charity sector and for communities across the UK.
Based on our decades of work advising businesses on impactful corporate giving and brokering their charitable partnerships and supporting
charities to develop corporate engagement strategies, we have identified three important first steps for charities to take to help them establish strong and enduring corporate partnerships.
Step one: understand your potential partner's purpose
When you are first researching who you might like to work with, it is important to consider what your potential partner could be looking to achieve through your work together.
Often, when pitching for corporate support, the initial onus
will be on your charity to communicate as clearly as possible what you do and how you make a difference. But many potential corporate partners will have their own ideas about charitable giving and the impact they want to have, alongside needing to
manage the expectations of their colleagues, customers, and stakeholders.
So, take time to understand their corporate purpose and what a successful partnership with you might look like for them. How can your charity add value to your potential
corporate partner? How can you help them to achieve their social impact ambitions, including employee engagement?
It is always better to ask and seek this information directly, because the more you can establish how your charity’s
impact aligns with your potential partner’s goals the stronger the foundation for your collaboration will be.
Step two: communicate your impact with confidence
To engage potential partners, you need to be able to tell a consistent and compelling story about your charity’s impact – in an easy to-understand, evidence-based way. We recommend using a Theory of Change (ToC), as a structured process you
and your team can follow to map out how your charity’s activities lead to outcomes and, ultimately, your impact.
Internally, a ToC can strengthen your charity’s sense of purpose, help you allocate your resources more effectively,
and provide a valuable benchmark for evaluation. Externally, it is a powerful communication tool that you can leverage to educate – and inspire – prospective corporate partners, showing them how your work can help them to bring their purpose
to life in an actionable and impactful way.
Once you know what your impact story is, you need to identify the best way to share it with your prospective partner. A good place to start is by looking at how they communicate
their impact, for example, the language and metrics they use.
As part of this, think about how you can communicate any existing, or possible, alignment between your organisations’ missions more clearly. Where appropriate, this might
involve using similar language and/or social impact frameworks to facilitate greater understanding. Being open to collaboration and co-development of the partnership is important. A co-creation approach can help achieve a programme or initiative which
aligns to the strategy and purpose of both organisations.
In addition, when it comes to project delivery, a common agenda and shared system of measurement can also promote increasing learning, accountability and a shared sense of progression.
Alongside impact, you also need your story to include what a business can gain from working with you. Just as corporates can offer you access to a wider breadth of skills and expertise, you and your colleagues also bring knowledge, perspectives,
and networks within your community or cause area that are invaluable.
So, avoid underselling your expertise.
Step three: be clear, and creative, about your ask
Finally, when you have the information you need from steps one and two, make sure you are ambitious in your ask. Funding is always valuable. However take this opportunity to think more broadly about your organisation’s needs and the support that a business
might be able to provide to help you.
Research potential partner’s areas of expertise and resources. Could you ask for pro bono support to help you build capacity, for example, developing marketing tools, printing materials, IT skills?
Also, consider employee engagement options. What volunteer support could be useful? Could you organise collections for common items your charity purchases, such as toiletries, blankets, quality second-hand clothes etc.?
Whatever your ask, we recommend engaging on a regular basis with corporate funders to encourage open constructive dialogue and a successful relationship built for the future.
