Corporate fundraisers should focus less on hard cash and more on the wider value that partnerships can bring, argues Andrew Peel
While some charities do manage to land large corporate donations on a regular basis, these days the reality is that ‘no-strings’ cash injections are rare and companies don’t really have the vast financial reservoirs that many perceive them to. And unfortunately, those businesses that have weathered the recession are likely to feel more beholden to their shareholders than to their stakeholders.
The level of corporate giving is startlingly low in the UK, accounting for around five per cent of charities’ income. Despite intense scrutiny and pressure from customers, staff, the media, pressure groups, the government and more enlightened shareholders, latest figures from the Directory of Social Change reveal that the most generous 600 companies gave away an average of only 0.43 per cent of their pre-tax profits in 2009/10 – and that includes in-kind.
Shifting sands
In both the UK and the US, many companies that have traditionally provided financial support to charities have recently shifted their focus to a broader and more ‘strategic’ form of support, including investment and access to non-cash resources such as employees, customers, buildings and products. This change of emphasis has been driven not only by a reduction of corporate donations budgets, but also by companies’ desire (and need) to be seen as more socially responsible, and for more tangible benefits to come out of their community investments.
This approach seems to make sound business sense, too, with evidence emerging of a demonstrable link between a corporate commitment to social responsibility and business success, shareholder value and even staff retention.
If packaged and positioned carefully, such support can appear as an enlightened, socially aware form of community involvement, and certainly less paternalistic and one-dimensional than handing over a cheque. It can also represent immense value for charities, although it has to be said that sometimes, gifts-in-kind can sometimes prove to be onerous (particularly when they are of the ‘can-we-send-a-team-of-volunteers-to-decorate-your-day-centre-next-Tuesday’ variety!)
Against this changing backdrop, the time has come to reconsider the form and direction that corporate fundraising needs to take. If charities are to continue to build strong, meaningful and sustainable relationships with the corporate sector, partnerships should no longer be viewed simply from a financial perspective, but in terms of their wider value to both parties.
Strategic thinking
It is also evident that the corporate fundraiser who thinks of him or herself only as a ‘raiser of corporate funds’ is going to be destined for disappointment and failure. Some might even argue that the very label ‘corporate fundraiser’ has become something of a misnomer because of the need to think about the role in a far broader, more strategic way.
My advice to charities is this: try to view each corporate partner not as a cash cow, but as a multi-dimensional resource that could, if properly researched and managed, create an abundance of opportunities for both organisations. For the charity, a corporate partner might represent a source of invaluable pro bono expertise that could transform a project; a captive audience for its new challenge events programme; or a fresh market for its services. For the company, the charitable link might offer it rewarding staff development opportunities, access to policymakers or new markets or positive PR opportunities.
By adopting a broader, customer-led mind-set, corporate fundraisers will find they are able to open up their relationships on a number of mutually beneficial fronts and keep businesses engaged for longer. Not only should this strategy result in a more equal and productive partnership but it may even pave the way for some of the financial support your fundraising director had originally budgeted for!
Corporate fundraising has never been a fast track to easy money and the path to whatever funding is available is becoming an increasingly difficult one to negotiate. The gradual shift towards more strategic, in-kind forms of support makes the scale of the task facing those charities targeting the corporate sector even greater. Clearly, corporate fundraising presents charities with some considerable challenges and yet, for the patient, creative, strategic and commercially-minded fundraiser, this new climate means that there really is no limit to the number of ways in which a charity can engage with a company.
Andrew Peel is a freelance fundraiser and consultant
andrew@peelconsulting.com
