With social responsibility high on the business agenda today, organisations are acutely aware of the need to give something back. To this end, businesses and charities are now increasingly working closely together and forming mutually beneficial partnerships that are sustained over several years.
But what factors should businesses consider when choosing a charity partnership? And how can they go beyond financial contributions to make a lasting impact?
The first step is to ensure the charity and the potential business partner are on the same page, explains Amy Carr, Focus Ireland’s head of partnerships and philanthropy.
“It’s really important for all charities to look at the fit between the charity and the company,” she says. “It may not always be an obvious fit but certainly things like values, goals, culture, governance and reporting – they should all be considered when a company is choosing a charity and when a charity is choosing a company – it’s a two-way street.”
Ambitious
This due diligence forms a strong basis for a partnership “because it means you are aligned in your thinking”, she adds.
Barnardos director of fundraising Mary Gamble agrees. “These partnerships are something that we are turning more and more towards. Because Barnardos works with children that are from disadvantaged communities, resources are limited and we have to think laterally about what we want to achieve. To that end we look towards the business community and towards organisations that we feel align to our own goals and are as ambitious for our kids as we are.”
Forming the right partnership has significant advantages for the businesses too, says Gamble. “It is beneficial on so many levels. We know that graduates and employees looking to enter organisations are looking at their CSR strategies and aligning themselves with causes that are after their own heart. A company really tells its story through its CSR work.”
This means each company and its chosen charity must consider the long-term outcomes of the partnership. Having clear goals and objectives is key, says Carr.
“With some of the partnerships we work on, right from the beginning you are outlining the impact they can have – everyone knows what you are working towards.”
With such a big commitment, transparency is also key, and Carr explains that Focus Ireland "check in regularly" with their business partners.
"Especially with some of our bigger partnerships like Bord Gáis Energy and Applegreen, we would have very set goals based on what they are giving us so we report on the progress of these, as well as obstacles and challenges. It's a very honest and open relationship with a certain amount of flexibility."
Carr adds that Focus Ireland endeavours to tailor each partnership – without compromising the charity’s integrity – so that both parties can achieve their goals.
“It’s not one-size-fits-all – what works for one company won’t work for another.”
Gamble agrees, explaining that different businesses may have different goals – while one may wish to increase staff engagement, another may wish to raise awareness of its brand. The precise nature of the engagement will also vary from company to company. “When we enter into a partnership with a company, we would study the diversity of its staff, and we create bespoke packages and challenges around the staff – maybe they are into trips and challenges or maybe it’s more bake sales or quizzes,” she explains.
Demand
Recent years have seen increasing demand for such partnerships, Carr acknowledges.
“Businesses often approach us looking to work with us. Homelessness is so topical at the moment so we are getting more inquiries than maybe we would have done five years ago,” she says.
Paul McGrath, head of corporate and major donor funding at Concern, agrees that the corporate and social responsibility agenda has seen many organisations keen to form formal partnerships with charities where they can have a sustainable and positive social impact.
“There’s definitely a demand and a drive from various stakeholders within businesses to make choices that positively impact society – we are seeing that sentiment become stronger as they become increasingly aware of the broader impact they can have and looking beyond the bottom line,” says McGrath.
It makes good business sense for companies to look at the social impact of what they are doing, for a variety of reasons, he adds.
“It could be shareholders who want to know that their investments are sustainable and they aren’t doing damage to other people or the planet or it could be their employees, as increasingly younger people are more interested in working with organisations who align with their own value system. Customers also want to feel confident that their choices as consumers matter.”
And the support that businesses give to charities is not just in the form of cheques. Concern enjoys a strong partnership with the Z Zurich foundation, which funds Concern's flood resilience work in 22 flood vulnerable communities in Bangladesh. This partnership "goes beyond financial contribution", McGrath explains.
“Zurich is using its expertise as insurers to develop programmes that move the focus away from recovery to risk reduction. There is a real synergy there. It demonstrates how the partnerships can go quite deep and can be aligned with really important objectives within a company.”
Barnardos’ Gamble echoes this, saying the right business partnership can offer a lot more than funds to their chosen charity.
“We work with Dell Technologies and they are very generous, and they do lots of fundraising activities, which is absolutely essential for us. But what they also do is offer us skills and expertise in areas that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford or obtain. They offer HR and finance advice to us and have a whole range of resources we can tap into. It feels like we have an extra person at the senior management table.”
Dell employees also visit Barnardos centres in Dublin, Cork and Limerick where they offer coding workshops.
“This is something that the kids we work with would never have access to. They provide the tech as these kids wouldn’t have access to laptops or devices, and teach them how to code. This is completely unlocking their potential and who knows what could come of it. Having an organisation like that that can deliver on so many levels for us is really important.”