Are you ready to approach corporates for support? Andrew Peel helps you lay the foundations for better corporate fundraising.
Corporate-charity partnerships can be challenging to secure and execute effectively, even for the experienced practitioner. Identifying and approaching a suitable company, ‘selling’ your cause, negotiating terms and managing the partnership to a successful conclusion over many months can be a daunting prospect.
The following checklist will help you quickly assess whether your charity is ready to embark on corporate fundraising. It also highlights some of the foundations to be laid before you start investing in this income stream.
Audit your skill set
Your fundraiser may be an accomplished jack-of-all-trades, but does he or she possess the specific blend of skills needed to succeed in corporate fundraising? As well as having someone with commercial acumen and an understanding of the local/regional business environment, you’ll need a formidable researcher, networker, proposal writer, presenter, negotiator and project manager – as well as a creative thinker and a thick-skinned marketeer. If you can tick off all of these qualities, congratulations! You appear to have a corporate fundraiser in your midst, and you’re ready to go.
Get everyone on board
As talented as your fundraiser may be, his or her success will be dependent upon the support of others. Corporate fundraising is always a team sport, so it’s vital that your chief executive, trustees and programme staff are enthused and involved – whether it’s by facilitating introductions, attending meetings, preparing information for proposals or speaking passionately about the charity’s work at events and presentations.
Focus on warm prospects
When it comes to the question of which businesses to target, be sure to prioritise those that have supported you before, or where you have a connection – no matter how tenuous. Take time to review your own contacts, your chief executive’s or trustees’ networks and all of your suppliers and advisers. Systematically research their business, their senior personnel and their charity partners. Think carefully about the common ground, what you can offer them and who is best placed to make the initial approach. Finally, remember that cold approaches rarely bear fruit, and should be the last item on your corporate fundraiser’s to-do list.
Ensure timescales are realistic
If your charity’s budgets are under severe pressure, corporate fundraising is unlikely to provide a swift answer to your prayers. Lucrative, strategic partnerships can take months to broker and immediate, large cash donations are rare. Be prepared to play the long game: spend time getting to know each company and its staff so that you can develop a proposition tailored to their CSR or other business objectives. This stage is crucial, but can be long and drawn out – and is often made harder by anxious trustees breathing down your neck, asking you where the big money is!
Develop a strong corporate product
It’s understandable if you feel rather intimidated by the prospect of working with big business, but keep reminding yourself that all companies are run by people. So the chances are, they’re going to be attracted to similar aspects of your charity’s work as your individual supporters are – whether it’s a cataract operation, a cancer nurse or a cute guide dog puppy. Play to your strengths by focusing your corporate offer on what the charity does best, and what differentiates you from the competition.
Whoopsadaisy, a small Brighton-based charity supporting children with cerebral palsy, has developed a strong corporate offer: £3,000 to support one child’s conductive education sessions for a year. A product of this calibre is clear and compelling, and can act as the focus for a one-off donation, longer-term sponsorship or a staff fundraising campaign. It can also be easily scaled up or down to take into account the company’s budget or fundraising target.
The key is to develop a product that will instantly engage the company, and make them feel that their support – regardless of the form it takes – is going to have a tangible and sustained impact on your work and your beneficiaries, while also enabling them to meet their own business objectives.
Andrew Peel is a freelance fundraiser and consultant at Peel Consulting. Follow him on Twitter @PeelMr
