Beyond Sponsorship

In its whitepaper, “Cause Marketing: Beyond Sponsorship and Coupons,” social-enterprise consulting firm Community Wealth Ventures lists seven steps nonprofits need to take to build strategic alliances with their for-profit partners. Following is a synopsis of CWV’s suggestions:

1. Set goals.

Know what your goals are. Are you only trying to raise money? Or are you also attempting to raise awareness of your cause; build brand recognition for your nonprofit; develop a campaign that engages people at a grass roots level?

2. Understand your assets and develop a value proposition.

Assets can be broken down into three subcategories: things you have (physical assets; location/space; distribution/sales network; brand reputation; patent; access to desired resource; and membership); things you do (continuously innovate; manage information; produce low-cost goods; sustain privileged assets); and things you know (understanding of specific issues; process expertise; market expertise; people/key decision makers).

3. Identify industry and corporate targets.

In doing this, here are three things to think about: the relevance of the company’s business to your organization’s mission; opportunity for you to help the company meet specific business objectives; and your existing relationships.

4. Make initial contact with corporate targets.

During the initial call, understand the following three things: the company’s business objectives and marketing strategies/tactics; its experience with other nonprofit partners; and its level of interest in the value your organization has to offer. After all, your goal is to get a meeting with the company in order to make a pitch!

5. Develop and make your pitch.

To make a successful pitch, you need to establish your organization’s credibility; demonstrate how your assets can help the company meet business objectives; help the company understand that you are not asking for a charitable contribution; better understand the company’s business objectives by asking lots of questions; and go in with some ideas of your own, but definitely allow the company to explore what it can bring to the table.

6. Negotiate and finalize the alliance.

Be sure to remember to commit to only what you can deliver; have a written agreement with each corporate partner; make sure you charge fairly; understand your own costs; and understand also how the company you’re finalizing with can derive these benefits otherwise.

7. Deliver!

As Marshall Stole, director of Share Our Strength, explains: “Say what you plan to do, and do what you said you would.”

Read the whitepaper in its entirety here.