Teaming up with Companies

Corporate fundraising is the gathering of financial and other support from businesses and commercial companies. Along with grant funding, earned income and individual fundraising, corporate fundraising is one of the main strategies employed by organisations to fund their work.

Corporate philanthropy programmes bring a win-win situation for both the companies and the NGOs, since they allow the companies (large and small) to make investments in the social good, which reflects positively on the image of the business, while organisations can profit from the support they get. Some of these programmes are driven by employee giving and match funding: the more employees contribute to philanthropic organisations, the more their company will donate.

Many companies create corporate giving programmes as a way to give back to their local communities, to increase employee engagement and to foster meaningful partnerships with organisations.

Corporate philanthropy goes beyond simply asking donors for contributions and relies on building a partnership between the company and the organisation. Cooperation with companies can bring many benefits such as funding from marketing or community budgets, good PR, brand awareness, expertise and gifts in kind. However, to avoid friction the partnership requires good preparation and relationship-building to be on the same page regarding the expectations of both parties in terms of funding interest, engagement and reporting. There are many different forms of corporate partnerships, such as:

• Payroll giving – employees commit to giving a certain amount of their salary to an
  organization, this is often topped up or matched by the employer
• Donations and gifts in kind
• Employee involvement and volunteering – companies often have a range of unique skills and choose to support charities by offering time rather than giving cash.

It is important to regard the relationship as a joint endeavour that needs to be beneficial for both parties. The terms have to be negotiated at the beginning of the partnership and organisations should not just accept the proposal put forward by the company. It is important to be aware that the value of a partnership for the company, such as positive publicity, may far outweigh the direct cost the company incurs.