But charities could still use these as an opportunity to build what might become a more positive relationship, according to How do charities raise funds from companies? by Hogeschool Gent, better known as HOGENT.

That report, as well as another entitled How Generous are Flemish and Brussels SMEs?, has been published to support the growing number of charities wishing to develop corporate income streams. Both are available on the HOGENT website.

The business generosity study shows that around four out of five SMEs in Flanders and Brussels support charities. These are generally based around donations, with only one in 12 having an employee volunteering programme.

The How do charities raise funds report recommends that charities invest time into understanding the corporate sector, undertake targeted prospecting, and communicate clearly what it is that they offer, in order to achieve corporate fundraising success.

One area addressed in it is non-cash donations, including of furniture or other equipment. The 46 fundraisers who contributed to the report were split in their opinions of these gifts – while some found them useful, others said it felt like they were being given surplus goods, meaning the corporate is effectively passing a logistical problem on to the charity.

One fundraiser for an international development organisation says in the report:

“We regularly encounter companies trying to dump all kinds of overstock or things that are just about to expire, suggesting: ‘yes, you can do something with this in Africa, so that we can get rid of it’. That is often with good intentions, but we have a lot of resistance to this because that is colonial thinking: ‘everything that we no longer find good enough here will still be okay in Africa.’”

The report goes on to say that some fundraisers have at times accepted a gift that was not particularly useful, in order to build a relationship with the donor.

Ethical issues

The report also considers ethical issues with corporate relationships – saying that ethical policies generally include a list of industries from whom a charity would not accept donations.

It adds that while fundraisers know that they need to have such policies, many admit that it is difficult to know how to start building one, and can be tricky to put them into practice given the grey areas that could exist.

One fundraiser told researchers that it had twice been offered donations from a tobacco company, but with no strings attached. They commented:

“We were not asked to make it public. We accepted the donations – but if the company had wanted their logo to be displayed on our vans, then [we would have said] no.”

Picture by geralt on Pixabay

As well as changing the information firms require from charities, it could impact the type of corporate funding made available, suggests a report from UK-based sustainability and corporate purpose consultancy C&E Advisory.

C&E Advisory’s report came out the same day that the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) released research showing a long-term downward trend in donations from the UK’s largest firms. Total gifts from FTSE100 firms totalled £1.82bn in 2023, a real-terms decline of 24% in the past decade, CAF’s Corporate Giving 2024 found.

The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) “modernises and strengthens the rules concerning the social and environmental information that companies have to report”, according to the European Commission’s own website, and comes into force for the 2024 financial year, for reports published in 2025.

In the first year, only the largest firms are bound by the rules, but this expands in subsequent years. This will include some companies based outside of the EU, while other outside of its scope may adopt its principles as a matter of best practice.

Most of the 122 corporates and nonprofits surveyed by C&E said that it was either likely (52%) or highly likely (35%) that donors will require more detailed information about nonprofits’ own ESG practices. Similar proportions thought it was likely or highly likely that nonprofits would need to tell corporates more about supply chain due diligence and impact assessments, and that they might need to adopt new digital reporting practices.

Corporates want clear framework

Philippa Cornish, head of corporate clients at CAF, says that there is already inconsistency in the way that different corporations measure and report on charitable giving and community investment, and comments that clients would prefer “a simple, clear framework and allow them to benchmark their contributions”. She adds:

“There is a risk that charitable giving could be left behind or forgotten about in the many different frameworks and reporting standards. Often in business, if it can’t be measured and accounted for on a balance sheet then it is difficult to make it a priority and put together a business case for it. Responsible business is about contributing positive, sustainable change within communities and society – charitable giving is undeniably a crucial pillar of this.”

In addition, 80% of business respondents to the C&E survey said it was unlikely they would provide unrestricted funding to nonprofit partners in the CSRD era. The charity sector respondents to the survey did not appear to anticipate this trend, with 56% saying they do expect unrestricted funding to be available.

Manny Amadi, CEO of C&E Advisory, says:

“It is concerning that a notable gap exists between businesses and their nonprofit partners on each party’s expectation of the role of earmarked or non-earmarked funding. Nonprofits and charities should therefore either focus on making the business case and providing evidence as to why the provision of non-earmarked funding can yield greater social and environmental value, or alternatively, better manage their own expectations.”

Picture by Aurelien Chateaudon on Unsplash

At Action Tutoring, we don’t have a huge team working on corporate partnerships, but it’s led and driven by a lot of passion, determination and resilience! We truly believe charities cannot do it alone; to create change, businesses and charities must work together. You bring different strengths and resources to ‘the table’ ­– and that’s what drives positive transformation.

In summer 2023, we were announced as QBE Foundation’s new Community Partner. The charitable arm of a leading global insurance group, QBE Foundation pledged over £1.5 million to us across a three-year partnership, running until 2026.

A shared focus

They had a focus on ‘inclusion’, and that’s what we’re all about: ensuring disadvantaged pupils can access opportunities such as further education, employment and training. They had a refreshing approach to philanthropy, wanting to move beyond funding alone and really dive into our mission.

Agreed outcomes

As such, our partnership is focused on four key outcomes:

• Increase Action Tutoring’s geographical reach, with an ambition for 30% of our delivery to be based outside our current urban hubs by 2026, with a particular focus on overlooked rural and seaside communities.
• Grow the number of pupils we support each year to 10,000 in 2027.
• Drive our impact by empowering our pupils to match the national average pass rates for all pupils in English SATs and GCSEs, helping to reduce the attainment gap.
• Advocacy for tutoring support for disadvantaged pupils.

Working together

QBE Foundation is helping us move closer to these ambitions in a number of ways; they regularly encourage their colleagues to volunteer as tutors, connect us with potential useful contacts, and provide opportunities to visit their regional offices and deliver presentations to their teams both virtually and in-person. They also help us raise awareness of educational disadvantages through blogs, social media campaigns, videos, case studies (even supplying teams and resources to help us go into schools and conduct pupil and tutor interviews), provide us with office space, and engage their employees with fundraising challenges throughout the year.

As our partnership has progressed, we’ve developed the aims we want to achieve. For example, we started out with a handful of QBE colleagues volunteering as tutors; but as engagement grew, we set a target to get 10% of their UK colleagues as volunteers. We co-designed a strategy to ensure we were clear in our mutual ambitions and aligned on how we would achieve them, and what success would look like.

Maintaining close contact

We have regular catch ups and always look for ways to improve what we’re doing and how we do it. We ensure our connection goes beyond just our philanthropy team and their Ttustees – our marketing teams are connected, their colleagues know our programme delivery team through tutoring weekly, and their senior leaders have visited schools to see our programmes in action. Their Foundation Chairman even joined our annual team day to talk to our 70+ staff team about who they are, what they do and why they chose Action Tutoring as a partner, which is great for engaging our team in the partnership more deeply (especially when we’re all based across England).

Real partnership

They’re also helping us shape our thinking and strategies to some of the key business ‘challenges’ we’re facing, such as their Executive Team spending a whole day with our SLT to consider how to tackle developing more fruitful partnerships, enhance our approach to sustainability and refine our staff development offer. They really want to see us succeed as a charity and encourage other corporations with our work too; they have a very collaborative approach to the partnership and an aspirational ambition to do all they can to help as many children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to achieve academically and take their next step in life.

A key highlight was when a video QBE Foundation made about us was shortlisted as a finalist in the Corporate Cause category of the 2024 Smiley Charity Film Awards. The film was created to increase engagement and awareness across QBE colleagues and regional offices by highlighting the educational disadvantage and the solution we offer.

We love working with QBE Foundation. We have a few years of our current partnership left, but hope to extend it. We’re doing great work together and have the potential to support even more disadvantaged young people to achieve.

Sharing key learnings
Organisations often have limited time or resources, or both – so it’s critical to ensure you’re in alignment with a potential partner. As a charity it’s tempting to try to drive a partnership, even if it’s not suited to your mission – but that business could be providing critical support to a charity they have deeper synergy with ­– and your ideal corporate partner could be closer than you think. So really review the opportunity: is it right for your charity, and is it right for right now?

It’s also important to remember it’s a partnership; show your partner the impact you’re having together and take them ‘on the journey’. If things are challenging and you’re facing hurdles, tell them! It’s much better to work towards solutions together. Communication is key!

Hannah O’Neill

About Hannah O’Neill

Hannah O’Neill is the head of philanthropy at Action Tutoring. Having been with the education charity for over seven years, Hannah first spent 3.5 years in direct delivery, coordinating the charity’s tutoring programmes across Liverpool, where she’s based, before moving into partnerships and fundraising. She now leads the charity’s philanthropy team to drive fruitful, sustainable and transformational corporate partnerships, whilst overseeing all fundraising activities and initiatives.

Corporate giving has long been established as playing an important role within the charity sector, by connecting both public and private businesses and their employees with causes that they care about or with which they can have a direct positive impact. This can take many different forms, from voluntary cash donations, matched employee fundraising, volunteering, payroll giving and other initiatives including in-kind donations of skills, time and resources.

In some countries though, corporate support has fallen in recent years. In the UK for example, while organizations no longer need to declare their charitable donations due to changes to the Companies Act in 2013, ESG reporting requirements mean many continue to do so. The latest CAF Giving Report shows that in 2022, FTSE100 companies donated £1.85bn to charitable organizations. This equates to just 0.8% of their annual pre-tax profits; down from 2.5% in 2016, and a real-terms decline of 17%. Despite this, 39% of charities surveyed in the 2024 Enthuse Charity Pulse Report still anticipate growth in corporate giving overall in 2024; making corporate giving a highly competitive area within the charity sector.

So how can nonprofits ensure they’re in the best possible position to win a company’s support? Here are some tips.

Understand what’s in it for them

Since the pandemic, I’ve started to see more of a shift within corporate giving towards longer-term strategic partnerships that are mutually beneficial for both charities and businesses to help create social change. A quote from one of my corporate partners, NOT in the financial sector, always sticks in my mind: “we’re not a bank”. With so many charitable organizations to choose from, companies are more able than ever to be selective in the charity (or charities) they choose to support, to maximise their own benefit to create a two-way partnership.

During the research and application process, it’s vital that you ask yourself what’s in it for them? What can they get from your charity that is different from others? And don’t be afraid to ask the question of what they want from your charity. Is it to support their ESG goals? Help with staff retention? Volunteering opportunities? Bespoke events? Skills and learning opportunities? What can your charity bring to their business? And most importantly, can you actually deliver what they want? Understanding this is vital to success.

Air Ambulances UK supports the lifesaving work of the 21 air ambulance charities across the UK

Personalise your approach

Ultimately, people donate to people. As a sector, we know the importance of building relationships with our donors, and people within corporations are no different. Understanding the people within your target company at all levels, not just the senior leadership, will help to form a more personalised pitch that is compelling across the entire business. In such a competitive arena, a blanket approach to your target corporate list simply won’t work. You need to understand each company individually as what works for one pitch, is highly unlikely to work for another.

Try contact mapping

I always suggest doing a quick contact mapping exercise across your charity at all levels (if possible) before you approach an organization; particularly for larger companies. You would be amazed at how often someone knows someone (or knows someone else who does) within your target corporate. Even a quick LinkedIn search for any first or second level connections is always useful.

Be patient

Corporate partnerships take time. Lots of time. And often, multiple attempts before you begin to see even the smallest amounts of success. Patience is key when it comes to corporate giving!

Last year we were successful at winning a partnership with an organization that we had originally begun talking to back in 2019. We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to get to the final pitch in 2020 against two other charities… but we weren’t successful. We were so close, and yet so far.

If you fail, ask for feedback

But this is where our opportunity began. We asked for feedback. Full and honest feedback – knowing it may not all be pretty! The fact that we got to the final two was proof enough that our cause was one that resonated with them and so we were over the first hurdle. But what was it that the winning charity offered that was more relevant to them? What areas did they think we needed to consider more carefully when talking with them? And importantly, did our pitch effectively convey everything that we hoped that it would? We had lots of positive feedback from the corporate, and some areas they suggested that we look at. And so we did…!

Don’t be put off by failure

Despite being unsuccessful, we kept communication with them open to continue to build those relationships and to make sure that if there was a future opportunity to pitch, we would get the chance once again. We made sure to see what they were publicly celebrating with their new charity partner and noted what activities their staff were getting engaged in. Although we didn’t yet have the partnership, we were utilizing the time to learn more about who the people in the organization were and what was important to their business from their charity partner. When the time came to apply, and then pitch, again, we knew that we were able to put together a strong pitch that was relevant to them, based on all our learning over the past few years. All that effort paid off, and we won the partnership!

Give it your all

Corporate giving is a tough space to be in, but it is also hugely rewarding. Don’t be put off by failure. You have to remember that it’s not personal, to you, your charity or the cause that you support. Sometimes it’s just not the right time and often it can take multiple applications to the same corporate organization before you even get shortlisted!  It’s vital that you learn from your unsuccessful pitches and don’t be afraid to ask for feedback. Be honest with yourself about what you can offer that corporate, and can you actually deliver what it is that they need? When the time comes to pitch, make sure your message is clear and concise. Prepare, practice, rehearse, and give it your all.

Carla Yarrow

About Carla Yarrow

Carla Yarrow is corporate partnerships manager for Air Ambulances UK (AAUK); a national charity supporting the work of the UK’s 21 air ambulance charities. She is passionate about working closely with AAUK’s national corporate supporters to maximise the impact of corporate partnerships and, together, help improve patient outcomes and save even more lives. Prior to working in the charity sector, she spent 11 years working in the hospitality industry looking after charity partnerships for one of the UK’s leading hotel management groups. Carla is also a committee member of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising’s Payroll Giving special interest group.

Commercial organisations of all shapes and sizes seek nonprofit partners, but while the offer may be compelling, there’s a job to be done to ensure that any partnership is sustainable, and holds value for both sides. Here are some tips.

Understand your nonprofit’s values & needs

Firstly, the nonprofit’s values and needs must be clear and at the forefront internally, with a strategy in place to ensure due diligence is carried out into every potential partnership to assess risk and ethical rapport, and that all activity carried out under that partnership is beneficial for the nonprofit and its work.

Giordana Giambanco, Oxfam Italia

Giordana Giambanco, corporate engagement specialist at Oxfam Italia shares:

“At Oxfam Italia, we start by identifying companies that are integrating environmental and social impact into their core business operations, aligning closely with Oxfam Italia’s mission. These companies are not only aligned with our mission but also committed to improving their practices in ways that benefit society and the environment.

“To ensure these partnerships thrive, we begin by establishing clear and mutual goals. We send useful materials on themes identified for collaboration, laying a foundation of shared knowledge and objectives. This initial step fosters mutual understanding and sets the stage for a strong relationship.”

Do your research

A second key step is to do your research into any prospective partner: their mission, values, and previous projects. This will help you to better understand whether their goals and values match yours, and how you might complement each other.

Anette Koivisto, MIELI ry

Anette Koivisto, corporate partnerships specialist at Finland’s MIELI ry shares:

“Before the first meeting, I thoroughly review for example the company’s corporate responsibility and values. I consider how a partnership with MIELI ry could align with the company’s goals. Social responsibility is currently a hot topic, and alongside environmental responsibility, companies want to invest in it. I also follow news and press releases about the company and topics that company leaders talk about. Collaborations based on the company’s values, responsibility, or business goals can offer a stable foundation.”

This understanding of how your nonprofit can create value in the partnership is essential, as is having a general understanding of the corporate world and how it works.

To this, Rolf Bangsgaard, partner & adviser at Denmark’s Raform adds:

“You need someone who can talk and understand the language of corporate. That’s the biggest challenge. I would always come to a company with an idea, having done my research, understanding what might be the challenges and pain points that the company has, and how we could solve our problem or common problems together.”

Fulfil your side of the deal

Certainly, entering into a strategic partnership is not as simple as receiving a donation and then sharing what you’ve achieved with it. For success there has to be an understanding of what the nonprofit itself needs to deliver to create value for its partner – and the ability to do so.

Gunn Inger Røkke Ruud, Salvation Army, Norway, Iceland & the Faroe Islands

Gunn Inger Røkke Ruud, strategic adviser corporate partnerships, Salvation Army Norway, Iceland & the Faroe Islands says:

“High level partnerships demand a high degree of involvement in your core business, and capacity and competence in areas that are strategically important for your partner – they’re not just about receiving funding and pro bono support. You need to make sure you’re on track with what you said you were going to do and deliver your side of the deal so that they find the partnership valuable as well. This also means being able to measure and report back on activity and achievements. Partnerships require work on both sides.”

Stay connected

Communication (or the lack of it) can make or break a collaboration. In fact, the most common reason partnerships fail is because the expectations haven’t been made clear, and the NGO has agreed to deliverables it’s unable to meet.

Everything from objectives, to responsibilities, and ways to measure success need to be established up front. Then, on an ongoing basis, regular dialogue and meetings, as well as the sharing of both successes and challenges are essential for building and sustaining mutual trust.

MIELI ry’s Koivisto says:

“It is important to develop the partnership over the years, and therefore, we brainstorm new ways in which we can support the company and how they can showcase this in their communications and marketing. I also try to get the entire company’s staff more strongly engaged if they aren’t already involved. I aim to interact with several decision-makers within the company, as a broader network and message reach within the company strengthens the foundation for a deep partnership.”

Francisco Fernández, Fundación Gmp

Sharing Fundación Gmp’s experience, director Francisco Fernández says:

“Ultimately, it’s about ‘balance’. In our collaboration with the Federation of Autism of Madrid and the AUCAVI Foundation in the Autism Commitment project, we ensured we aligned our expectations and objectives from the beginning. We have maintained constant and transparent communication, organizing monthly meetings to evaluate progress and discuss any issues. Furthermore, we value our partners’ expertise in the field of autism and respected their recommendations, which has been crucial for the project’s success. Thanks to this collaboration, we have been able to provide effective tools and strategies to the staff of various educational centres, benefiting numerous children with autism.”

Put measurement processes in place

Measurement is another key factor in any strategic partnership. But, while it’s relatively simple for a nonprofit to assess the impact of a partner’s support on its work, the value created for that partner can be harder to define.

One potential impact measure companies can use is how many people (for example) it has helped. Data can also be collected on the reach of messages about the partnership and feedback gathered from the partner’s stakeholders on how the partnership has affected their relationship with the company. Retention and recruitment is a possible KPI, as is how goodwill or positive brand impact translates into better sales, and whether the brand is living up to investor expectations.

Rolf Bangsgaard, Raform

Bangsgaard adds:

“Impact measurement is the most difficult part of partnership, but something else a nonprofit can measure is how it creates value by giving the company authentic content for their ESG reporting. Companies need to work out how to meet ESG standards, and how to get a B Corp certification. So that really is a value creator, because how would you otherwise figure out how to really make a difference on your ESG if not with the help of people understanding projects from the NGO side of the business?”

Learn from others

Learning by example of course also has enormous value. Below, the Salvation Army Norway, Iceland & The Faroes and Oxfam Italia share examples of corporate partnerships that have been successful for them.

– Case studies –

Salvation Army Norway, Iceland & The Faroes: transforming a longstanding partnership to provide more

Credit: MesterGrønn

value to both sides

Salvation Army Norway, Iceland & The Faroes’s partnership with flower shop chain MesterGrønn started over 25 years ago when Norway introduced a charge for plastic bags and the brand chose to donate the one krone/ 1 NOK charge per bag to the nonprofit. Over the years, this has provided a substantial sum of money: every year MesterGrønn donates around one million NOK from the sale of the Salvation Army’s rose bouquet and a contribution from the bag sale to the Salvation Army’s humanitarian work. Both parties were content with the status quo.

However, in more recent years, seeing how the brand has developed its corporate support offering in partnerships with other nonprofits, Gunn Inger and her team started looking at how they could develop their partnership to make it more fulfilling for the brand, and to provide greater value for both sides.

The Salvation Army’s addiction care is recognized for its expertise and help for people with drug problems, many with bad life experiences and long-term drug use. To make it a more strategic partnership, the nonprofit decided to earmark MesterGrønn’s donation to support this work. This has made it easier to show them exactly how it is being used, and to measure and report back on what their support has achieved.

Gunn Inger says:

“It also makes it easier for them to get more involved, to understand the work that they’re supporting and to talk about the partnership. For example, if they want to pay us a visit, we know where to take them and who they should talk to. They’re also very interested in getting people out of addiction and helping them find a job.  We’re now in the process of combining our efforts into a strategic project that is based on our shared value. This has brought our work closer to home for them and made the partnership feel more relevant and important. We’re also now planning with them throughout the year so they know what’s coming up, enabling them to start budgeting for this partnership alongside their others.

“It’s about having that business mindset and understanding where the value of this partnership is for them. It started like a lot of older partnerships with them making donations, but now we’re trying to be more relevant, to show them our competencies and expertise, and that we understand the business side of the partnership, and asking them to make more of an impact.”

Oxfam Italia: achieving social awareness & commercial success through partnership

A great partnership for Oxfam Italia is with Narratè, a “beverage design” company from Italy. Narratè has created a product that combines a brief story with a tea or herbal infusion, designed to be read in the exact time it takes to brew the tea – five minutes.

The product is fully customizable in terms of graphics, text, and blend, allowing any content to be used to convey a message, whether for sales, institutional, or entertainment purposes.

In November 2022, Oxfam Italia became a retailer of Narratè products in its online shop, and by Christmas, these products were the bestsellers of the year. The success of this collaboration led to the creation of a dedicated editorial series called “Human Rights Makers” in March.

This series focuses on peace and human rights, featuring stories about significant figures such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Maria Montessori, Les Madres de Plaza de Mayo, and Malala Yousafzai.

The concept of this editorial line is to “Have a tea with…” where readers imagine sitting down with a great personality and listening to what they might share during the five minutes it takes to brew their tea. Written in the first person, each story is crafted to be empathetic and straightforward, allowing readers to feel as if they are receiving personal insights directly from these historical figures.

This partnership has achieved several significant milestones:

Increased Engagement: Narratè’s format, particularly with the “Human Rights Makers” series, has effectively captured readers’ attention, providing a unique and enjoyable way to engage with important social and cultural themes while introducing Oxfam’s mission to a new audience.

Sales Success: Narratè products have been well-received, becoming the top-selling items during the holiday season.

Cultural Impact: By involving talented writers capable of capturing the essence of important characters and themes, the partnership has produced content that is meaningful and accessible to a wide audience.

Employee Engagement: The partnership has also become an employee engagement initiative focused on human rights. This is important because involving employees in meaningful activities not only increases awareness and knowledge of important social issues but also demonstrates the company’s commitment. Engaged employees are more motivated and likely to support the values and mission of the organization that the company has chosen to support.

Giordana says:

“This partnership exemplifies how a creative and well-aligned collaboration can not only promote social awareness but also achieve commercial success, providing a sustainable model for future initiatives. By incorporating employee engagement, the partnership strengthens internal culture and reinforces the commitment to human rights, benefiting both the company and its employees.”

Corporate partnerships have always had immense value for nonprofits. But while traditionally these partnerships have been (and often still are) centred around donations, increasingly nonprofits, NGOs, and commercial organisations alike are realising the greater value of longer-term strategic partnerships.

Working together on a set of agreed aims, the nonprofit receives funding, volunteers, skills and expertise, enabling them to go further faster towards achieving their objectives.

Francisco Fernández, Fundación Gmp

Francisco Fernández, director at Spain’s Fundación Gmp comments:

“Unfortunately, social needs are greater than the resources available to nonprofit organizations, and for this reason, corporate partnerships can be a very interesting ally to reduce these needs. Moreover, we live in a time when no organization can succeed on its own. For our foundation, corporate partnerships are essential because they allow us to expand our impact and reach more people in need.

“For example, since 2014, at Fundación Gmp we have maintained a collaboration with Plena Inclusión Madrid, which has allowed us to provide scholarships for early care treatments to more than 500 families with children with intellectual disabilities or developmental disorders. This collaboration has not only increased our support capacity but also strengthened our strategies for inclusion and equity.”

Brands seeking to do good

Now too, there is a real opportunity for nonprofits to co-create more meaningful corporate partnerships as growing numbers of brands seek to become purpose driven and make a positive impact of their own. It’s a move that is evident in the rise of B Corps, CSR and ESG, and as companies seek to align with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and reporting demands such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).

Srđan Janjušić, Caritas Austria

Introduced in January 2023, the CSRD for example mandates that around 15,000 companies in the EU (phased in from 2025 to 2027 for fiscal years 2024 to 2026) must report transparently on their sustainability performance. For NGOs, this opens new avenues for collaboration says Srđan Janjušić, head of corporate partnerships and philanthropy at Caritas Austria:

“Businesses, under pressure to demonstrate significant advancements in their sustainability efforts, will seek partners that can contribute tangible, positive impacts. NGOs, with their deep expertise in social and environmental issues, become vital allies in helping companies meet their CSRD obligations.

Drivers for more strategic partnership

This, he says, fosters a move away from traditional donation-seeking towards forming strategic, mutually beneficial partnerships, continuing:

“NGOs can offer consulting and support for achieving SDGs, guiding companies through the implementation process and addressing ESG KPI gaps along their value chains. 

“These collaborations can lead to integrated sustainability projects, where NGOs provide the necessary guidance, implementation support, and credible reporting, enhancing corporate sustainability narratives. The CSRD not only incentivizes corporations to engage more deeply with NGOs but also empowers NGOs to expand their influence and impact through strategic, goal-oriented partnerships.”

Alongside this is the need to meet a growing expectation from consumers that companies will be directing some of their profits into good causes, and ensuring their operations and products are environmentally sound.

Gunn Inger Røkke Ruud, Salvation Army, Norway, Iceland & the Faroe Islands

Increasingly then, the benefits of partnering with a nonprofit are just as apparent for the commercial partner as the other way around. Gunn Inger Røkke Ruud, strategic adviser corporate partnerships, Salvation Army Norway, Iceland & the Faroe Islands comments:

“In Norway, seven out of 10 people think the corporate world should do more to contribute to sustainable development and there’s an expectation that brands should have a focus on their Corporate Social Responsibility and their social impact. That might be their initial reason to start looking to partner with NGOs but after a while, when it’s well-managed, they start seeing that it’s really good for business. It’s good internally and for retention because people feel proud to be a partner that’s doing good, and it’s beneficial for building their own brand so it’s profitable for them as well.”

An opportunity for nonprofits & NGOs

Clearly, this move to become more purpose-driven is a shift in strategy that nonprofits need to be aware of and, where relevant, respond to. For brands seeking to do good and moving into areas they may not have existing expertise or experience in, partnerships with nonprofits that specialise in these areas can be invaluable. By seeking out and nurturing strategic partnerships, nonprofits can ensure the two work together to achieve the greatest impact, whilst also ensuring they remain involved where they are best qualified to help.

Rolf Bangsgaard, Raform

Rolf Bangsgaard, partner & adviser at Denmark’s Raform says:

“This big shift in corporate strategies means NGOs need to understand how they can help a company create value while at the same time solving a problem, or it will become more and more difficult for them to make a difference in the areas they’re working in.

“Companies need to understand how to integrate doing good into their core, but often don’t really know how to make that part of their value chain or integrate that into their business. So there’s a huge opportunity for NGOs to help companies solve real problems, if they’re ready and prepared, and if they understand the corporate challenge­ – that companies need projects, ideas and causes they can work with but don’t necessarily know what they are or how to do it.”

But of course, while many organisations will seek nonprofits to partner with, they won’t all be a good fit. Nonprofits must ensure then – as much as possible – that they make a good match, and that any partnership is sustainable with mutual value. For useful insights on how to achieve this, read our top tips piece.