I’ve written before about starting a partnership between a nonprofit and a corporate entity, from the nonprofit perspective. This article examines the same process from the corporate point-of-view.
Like nonprofit managers, many corporate PR staffers exercise great care in choosing a partner for their giving programs. With over 1.5 million registered charities, foundations, community centers, NGOs, interest groups, advocacy groups, and philanthropic organizations in the U.S. alone, choosing a cause to align with can seem like a daunting task, even for the most well-equipped businesses.
The right choice depends on factors ranging from commercial to personal concerns, and weighing each factor takes patience and deliberation. Unlike nonprofits, who usually benefit the most financially from a partnership, businesses looking to find a nonprofit to support often seek alternative, less obvious advantages from the arrangement. For a business, finding and supporting a cause can increase engagement among employees, open up channels to the customer base, energize the brand, and improve one’s community profile; all of which leads to a more successful and faster growing company.
How do you find the cause or nonprofit that’s able to accomplish all of that? The secret, it turns out, is love.
Much like starting a business, starting a partnership with a nonprofit simply won’t go very far without passion. When businesses partner with nonprofits and causes that matter to employees, customers, fans, and shareholders, everyone wins. Find the cause that you value most and your business becomes more valuable in turn.
Here are five steps to finding your nonprofit crush:
1. Involve your employees.
A business’ employees aren’t just its greatest resource; they’re the heart and soul of the organization. As in the creation of company culture, what matters to your employees matters to the company.
When looking for a nonprofit to partner with, make sure to involve employees at every step in the process. Get to know your employees and coworkers: Which causes are they involved in during their off-hours? Which have affected them or their families personally? Whether an employee has a child suffering from muscular dystrophy, a parent with Alzheimer’s disease, or a passion for environmental sustainability, chances are there are more than enough causes among the team to support.
2. Search nearby.
Your customers aren’t the only ones who should “shop local.” When shopping around for a nonprofit partner, focus on organizations who are making a difference in your community, whether they’re town, city, or state initiatives.
By partnering with a local nonprofit, your business will directly affect its community through better schools, parks, food banks, and so forth. Both your employees and your customers will feel more connected to a local cause, resulting in exposure and goodwill towards your company.
3. Partner strategically.
It may sound obvious, but your ideal nonprofit partner should be relevant to your business goals. Align yourself with nonprofits whose work affects your industry. If your business is a restaurant, for instance, you may want to support a farmer’s alliance. If you run a bike shop, join forces with a bike cooperative. A nonprofit partner can provide you with more than good PR—it can change the way you do business.
4. Give more than money.
Funding is only one way to support nonprofits. Many organizations face needs beyond finances, such as volunteer staff, legal services, marketing, accounting, and data collection and organization. Fortunately, your business has those resources and expertise in spades. Consider how you can help your nonprofit through non-monetary means, and boost levels of employee engagement in the process.
5. Keep things fresh.
Not all partnerships need to last a lifetime. If there are diverse philanthropic passions within your company, allows all employees to promote the causes they care about by rotating the business’ cause regularly. You can make the change annually, semi-annually, weekly, or monthly, depending on employee’s voices and nonprofit needs. Our voting app makes choosing your next cause or nonprofit partner easy and fun for all employees.
Choosing a nonprofit partner engages employees, customers, and community members at all levels in the single most important enterprise an organization can undertake: doing good.
