How do I develop a corporate support plan?

Hello Sophie: As you are working to develop a corporate support plan, perhaps you will have at least these few, key, factors in mind which will directly influence your final corporate support initiatives:

• You have enough corporations in your area of service to make your efforts worthwhile, and that you are not looking to distant, uninterested, corporate benefactors. When it comes to the solicitation of corporate contributions, area of service and geography are often important deciding factors. A company rarely gives to a community organization that does not provide service to an area in which a substantial number of its employees either live or work. To put it bluntly, a corporation usually must have a facility or business connection in an area if it is to be successfully solicited.

• You have a Board of Trustees comprised of some reasonable number of corporate executives whose contacts with their colleagues in other corporations are so important for access to contribution decision makers.

• You will take care as to not put all, or most, of your corporate support activity “eggs” in the fund-raising “basket.” That is, if the percentage of corporate giving in the UK is somewhat the same as here in the US. Of the billions given annually to charity, about 85% comes from individuals, while only about 4% comes from corporations. That’s not because non-profits are less efficient in their fund-raising ability, it’s because the money simply is not there. It is a common myth in most fund-raising circles that corporations (and foundations) give most of the money to charities.

So, as you develop your plan, and once you have identified, researched, evaluated, and otherwise get to know intimately the best and most likely corporations to support your organization, you will be able to align them to your organization with the following appropriate criteria:

Corporations look at requests for support from three points of view:

1. Is it good philanthropy? A contribution made for straight philanthropic reasons is a gift of good citizenship from which a corporation expects little or no direct benefit.

2. Does it enhance the corporate image? A contribution made with image as a major consideration is made with the expectation that it will engender positive feelings on the part of the public toward the corporation.

3. Will it generate revenue for the corporation? A contribution made based upon its potential to generate revenue is as much business deal as charitable gift.

For more, I suggest the following:

--- Tapping The Philanthropic Well
[url]http://www.raise-funds.com/199forum.html[/url]

--- Building Donor Loyalty
[url]http://www.raise-funds.com/012703forum.html[/url]
(Chapter 6: Stewards of Other People’s Money (corporations & foundations)

--- Sponsorships And Underwriting Campaigns: Would You Please Fund Our ___________?
[url]http://www.raise-funds.com/799forum.html[/url]

P. S. Over many years, and through countless solicitations, corporate contributions managers time and again cited their “Top Ten” or so, requirements for any non-profit to practice in order to attract their attention for funding. Though different people, different corporations, and from several years, my notes indicated basically the same “Top” three things those stewards of their corporations’ money wanted from contribution seekers. Perhaps what they say will be useful to you as well.

(1) Know Who We Are:
Read our corporation’s Annual Report. Have you looked at our website? Know what we make and sell. Who are our customers? How many employees do we have? Where are our locations? Who are our Officers? Are any of them involved in your organization?

(2) Understand Our Concerns:
What are our policies regarding endowments, capital campaigns, annual operating support, giving to projects and services, united supporting agencies, and if you wish to “double dip,” when it comes to obtaining our support for a specific campaign, know if we will as well support a special fund-raising event you are producing.

(3) Understand Our Interests:
Know if we employ a strategic philanthropic practice, I. e., focus on education, health care, social services, arts, etc. Know if our corporate citizenship mission, and perhaps our desire to be recognized publicly via sponsorships, are local, state wide, national, or global.

Sophie: From the mouths of those stewards of their corporations’ money, while it’s obvious they want to know about our organizations, they certainly make it clear that we better know something about them.

Best fund-raising wishes,
Tony

Hi,
Thanks for your replies! I have a better idea now about where to take this, sorry for the initial vagueness!
Once I have done more work on this I will probably come back with more direct questions.

Possibly a little damning - I have had mixed experiences with corporate fundraising, and that probably comes through in my post.

As Gerry points out, there are rafts of smaller companies who aren't heavily targeted and providing you have realistic expectations and a degree of patience then anything is possible.

We recently helped a small Surrey based charity to start a corporate support programe, and used Surrey CofC as a platform to members, offering volunteering, partnered events, etc.

As all have said already more info would be useful.

Hi, Sophie

More info would be good - if we know who you are and what you're trying to achieve we can offer more tailored advice.

However, I think, perhaps, James is a little too damning. Certainly, if you are a smaller charity or is you work in a particular geographic location, then the doors of the FTSE 100 are probably closed to you.

There are, however, thousands of smaller companies who are rarely contacted for creative CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) relationships. If you can find a company with a match to your charity, and if you can cultivate a contact with that company, then you're in with a chance.

You need to develop an "ask" that achieves goals for both parties - joint events can be fun, entertain their clients and build up your donor network, for instance.

Having said all that, you need to be cautious in your projections - corporate support is still a relatively small contribution to the income of the sector as a whole, and you should seriously ask whether this is the best place to invest serious time.

Cheers

Gerry

We have been running corporate appeals and corporate partnerships for the past few years. In our experience there doesn't seem to be much money around for smaller charities at present, although there are always exceptions.

Most corporates will already have a charity partner, normally a large and well branded one, which ensures their CSR budget makes a return.

That said there is still money out there. I have to agree with Sandra that you should look within your current network.

[quote] What sort of support are companies prepared to give?[/quote]
Anything from "nothing" to millions of pounds.

Sorry, but it's getting late, and the original question was vague! - for more specific advice from any of us, please could you let us know what kind of organisation are you? Charity? 'Friends group'? National? Local? What's your area of activity/who do you help? What kind of support are you looking for? Just hard cash or volunteers or "stuff" or any or all of it?

[quote]How is the best way of identifying areas that could be developed and then making contact with appropriate people?[/quote]
I can be a bit more sensible on this one, although not much.
Which organisations are closest to you geographically? What can you offer them in terms of publicity, volunteer opportunities, whatever?
Finally, people give to people, it's always best to start with your existing networks and work from there. Start with your trustees: which companies are they connected with? Which industries? Who do they know? Staff - do they have potential contacts with organisations through partners/family/friends/previous employers? Are other funders a potential source of information?

Hope this helps to direct your thoughts a little :)