This week on the Nonprofit Jenni Show, Jenni outlines six ways your nonprofit can partner with corporations and local businesses in 2021, even during the COVID-19 pandemic!
6 Ways for Nonprofits to Partner With Businesses
Looking for opportunities to deepen your relationships with business partners? Consider how you can add value for your current partners (and get a foot in the door with new partners) with these six nonprofit partnership tactics.
Note: I do not recommend presenting all six of these options to every business that supports your nonprofit! Listen to the full podcast episode for more details about how you can make appropriate requests and recommendations with each individual business that you partner with.
1. Matching Gifts
Did you know about $4-7 billion in corporate matching gifts go unclaimed every year in the US? One of the easiest, least expensive ways for corporations to support your nonprofit is through their matching gift programs. However, most corporations don’t spend a ton of time promoting matching gift opportunities to their employees, and nonprofit leaders often forget to help donors take advantage of the opportunity to double their donations.
Here are some tips for securing corporate matching gifts:
Offer to create a promotional piece for your corporate partners that give matching gifts. Create a sample email newsletter for the corporation to distribute to their employees highlighting the impact of matching gifts, and sharing your nonprofit as an example of an organization employees can support with the matching gifts program.
Research the corporations that employ your board members, major donors, key volunteers, and other supporters to learn about their matching gifts programs. Approach the donors who qualify for matching gifts and let them know how to take advantage of this benefit.
Use LinkedIn to find donors in your network who work for corporations that have a major presence in your community and offer matching gifts opportunities. Send a targeted email campaign to those donors to inform them about how they can secure matching gifts for their personal donations.
2. Volunteering Matching Gifts and Paid Time Off for Volunteering
Many corporations offer “volunteer matching” gifts. These corporations set a dollar value for their employees’ volunteer hours and donate to your organization when their employees volunteer for you.
For example, a corporation might offer a volunteer matching gift of $20 per volunteer hour. If an employee volunteers 20 hours for your organization, the employee can submit that information to the corporation so your nonprofit can receive a $400 donation. (Note: Just like with normal matching gifts, many employers have limits on how much they will donate through volunteer matching.)
Many corporations also offer paid time off for volunteering. For example, a corporation may offer full-time employees 8 hours per year that they can use as paid time off to volunteer for the nonprofit of their choice.
3. Event Sponsorship and Program Sponsorship
You probably already know that event sponsorships are a great way to engage businesses in your mission. Business leaders appreciate event sponsorship opportunities because they know the exact dollar amount your nonprofit is seeking and exactly how you will show appreciation for their gift.
If you know when you’ll host events each year (for example, if you have a volunteer appreciation in the spring and a signature event in the winter), you can bring all sponsorship opportunities to your corporate partners during an annual one-on-one meeting. This way, you don’t have to approach every business before each individual event and make them feel like you’re constantly asking for more support. Instead, they can plan ahead for sponsorships throughout the year.
Don’t forget — Promotions go both ways! When you have a fundraising event coming up, ask business partners to help promote the event (especially if they’re a sponsor) to their audiences, including employees, customers, email subscribers, and social media followers.
Depending on the corporate partner, you may also want to offer the option of sponsoring a program that aligns with their business offering. For example, a farm or food manufacturer with a large presence in your area may be interested in sponsoring your nonprofit’s food bank because the brand aligns with that program.
4. Percentage of Sales Donations
Some businesses may be interested in donating a percentage of their sales to your organization during a specific time period, or for a specific product/service they offer so customers feel like they are patronizing a business that supports the community. For example, I bought this Kendra Scott necklace at a charity event they hosted, and 20% of the sale was donated to the nonprofit beneficiary.
Although percentage of sales donations don’t typically earn much revenue for your nonprofit, these arrangements can help raise awareness about your mission among the company’s clientele. Be sure to ask the business for opportunities to educate their customers about your mission during the campaign.
5. In-Kind Donations and Pro Bono Services
Monetary donations are generally preferred to in-kind donations because your nonprofit has more flexibility to use a financial donation to meet urgent needs. However, in-kind or pro bono donations may offer more attractive opportunities to start a new business partnership or add more value for your existing partners.
In-kind donations are mutually beneficial for both nonprofits and business partners because the nonprofit receives support from the company, while the company has an opportunity to show off their commitment to the community and the quality of their products/services through their donation. An easy way to approach corporations for in-kind donations is by asking them to contribute one of their products or services to your upcoming charity auction.
Another benefit of in-kind and pro bono donations is that they tend to be much more camera-friendly than monetary donations. Your social media followers and e-newsletter subscribers may think it’s nice that a company has mailed a check to support your nonprofit, but it’s more exciting and impressive to see a photo of donations “in action”. For example, a local corporate cleaning solutions firm may want to share photos of the day they volunteer to deep-clean your offices so they can demonstrate their support for local nonprofits while also getting recognition for their high-quality services.
6. Annual One-on-One Meetings
At least once per year, set up an appointment to meet with the decision maker(s) of each of your business partners to touch base about their impact and goals for the future. Be sure to find out:
What are their charitable goals? Which parts of your mission mean the most to them?
How do they prefer to show support for your mission?
When is the best time to help them budget for charitable activities for their next fiscal year?
How do they like to receive recognition for their support?
And don’t forget, this is a two-way conversation! Let each business partner know the specific impact their contributions have had in your mission over the past year. Remind them exactly how your nonprofit has shown appreciation and recognition for their support.
Pick Jenni’s Brain About Your Business Partnerships
Many of my clients have felt unsure how to approach new business partners in the middle of a pandemic. How can you be sensitive to the ways COVID-19 may be affecting their budget and capacity to give? How can you continue to nurture relationships with business partners if they need to pause their charitable giving?
I’d love to schedule a half-hour or 50-minute call to answer your specific questions and help you improve your connections with corporate supporters.