Legend has it that we’re living in a brave new world of community minded companies and business like charities. So a partnership between a company and a charity is now a partnership of equals with shared values and a common goal, right? Maybe. Maybe in some cases, the company and the charity have achieved the holy grail of cross sector partnerships where both are getting what they need.

But maybe that’s in the minority of cases and for the rest, asking whether it’s worth the hassle is a question worth asking.

Corporate fundraising is still trudging along as a small, and possibly over rated income stream. Given the amount of time and energy it takes to research, secure, manage (think of that most mixed of blessings – employee volunteering), and report on, should the average charity be investing so much in it?

Companies are far more selective (and sometimes strategic) when it comes to choosing which charities to partner with. They seek out charity partners, and invite charities to apply (/jump through various hoops) for their charity of the year programmes. Some charities do have policies in place about which companies they won’t work with, but why aren’t more charities equally selective and strategic about the companies they want to work with rather than applying to where they think they might stand a chance?

Although trust in charities has had it’s ups and downs over the last few years, it’s still a lot higher than trust in multinational companies, banks and insurance companies. All of these languish down at the bottom of the chart along with political parties. Not good company (excuse the pun). If you take the view that companies are looking to piggy back on some of the feelgood factor associated with charities, that’s even more reason for charities to take a less deferential and more proactive role in corporate partnerships. At a networking lunch last week, I was talking to someone who works for a youth charity and she was sharing her experience of CSR professionals. Despite all the talk of embedded business practices, CSR (in her experience at least) still sat more or less within the marketing and PR function. So if good PR = working with a charity, why are charities the ones competing with one another for a particular partnership? And before rushing headlong into the partnership arena, are charities asking the right questions of themselves and of their partners, potential and existing, to ensure that it’s all worthwhile?

What does the company want? Happy, fulfilled employees? Attracting consumers? Achieving social impact? Good PR? Given the prominence of the environment and sustainability agenda just now, does that leave a lot of charities out in the cold?

What does the charity want? Is it just a case of money in the bank? What about awareness? The paradox is that companies often go for well known causes and charities that already enjoy public support and awareness. What about the less sexy, less well known causes? The riots of last summer swung a spotlight on young people in trouble, traditionally a cause that corporates shy away from, choosing to stick to causes that they are more comfortable with and that will resonate more with their employees and customers. So should charities with less employee-friendly causes focus on straightforward requests for cash and leave big partnership bids to the big players?

What is the company offering? What does it mean for the charity? What should and shouldn’t they agree to? Cash is king for charities so when the donation comes with various strings attached, should charities be brave and say no? We have been talking to more charities about reporting and evaluation, and we can see that at least some of this is driven by the requirements of corporate partners. While reporting and evaluation is never a bad thing, we’ve also seen the burdens it can place on charities, especially when each corporate partner has their own reporting format, schedule, and KPIs.

What would a successful partnership look like? What counts as success for the charity, and for the company? Our own research with the public through our Charity Awareness Monitor shows that the Oxfam/M&S partnership is the most recognised and other reports hail it as the most admired partnership as well, so maybe that’s one of the Holy Grail cases. It’s recognised, and admired but is it successful? What about the vast majority people who are totally unaware of it, or of any other partnerships, for that matter? What does that mean when it comes to measuring it’s success? While both those organisations probably have very clear KPIs in place, are other charities clear about what they want to achieve, and how they’ll know if they’ve achieved it? Of all the cause related marketing schemes that you come across in your day, how many of them even register?

Is there enough common ground? Is there any? Does it matter? After the phone hacking scandal blew up and the Sun was giving money to charities, a lot of questions were asked about whether charities should accept that money or not. But if the money is used effectively and efficiently, does it matter where it comes from? Sometimes, a partnership might be seen as a cynical attempt on the part of the charity to whitewash, greenwash or pinkwash their profile. Plenty of eyebrows were raised when Greenpeace partnered with McDonald’s or when Addaction partnered with Heineken. But again, if change is achieved from within, then those charities who do have an ethical fundraising policy should review it in light of what they want to achieve and how they can achieve it. 

Different rules apply to different players. In the same way that in the eyes of the public, small businesses aren’t tarred with the same mistrustful brush as big businesses, smaller and medium sized charities have different needs and challenges to larger organisations. 

So should smaller charities be more selective, leaving the CSR stuff to the big players? Do charities need to make some difficult decisions on what they can and can’t, should or shouldn’t do? In an environment of cuts and redundancies and resourcing issues, should Fundraising Directors review if this is the best door to be knocking on? Would charities be better off redirecting their FR resource into legacy giving for example? This article asks more questions than it could ever hope to answer, but maybe that’s just where many charities need to start – by asking lots of tough questions and finding a strategy amongst the answers.

Shivani Smith