The Key Question You Must Answer in Corporate Charity Partnership
I have had many conversations with fundraisers who believe that they can, and should, be getting more money from companies.
In some cases, I have to agree. But they are not, and they want me to tell them why. Instead of answering, it is more important that I ask:
“Why do YOU think a company should give money to your charity?”
I have heard a wide range of answers to this question, including:
- “My charity is making a real difference in the world”
- “My charity meets their outlined objectives”
- “My charity has a great new program that has exceptional results”
- “I know someone at that organization”
- “They have given money to similar charities”
Frankly, it is true that some of these pieces of information are useful, and may even help when deciding how to prioritize the vast number of companies that you might approach. However, none of these are the most important answers.
The answer to the question “why do you think a company should give money to your charity?” is always:
“That depends on the company, what problem do they have that you can solve?”
So, next time you think: “a company should give money to my charity”, answer the question, WHY?
I’m hoping you will have answers like:
- My charity is going to help them with employee retention through an employee engagement strategy.
- Their core business can respond to a critical social problem that my charity is addressing, and together we can make a valuable difference in society and share that story.
- My charity regularly speaks to their core target audience, and this new program initiative that I have available for sponsorship will help them reach that audience.
Of course, this is far from an exhaustive list, but it will hopefully get you looking at the potential between a company and your charity in a new way.
If you’d like to work through this idea further in a specific way, reach out, let’s talk! @heathernelson12 or email me [email protected].
You’ve got this!
Heather
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