Want to develop Cause-Related Marketing Partnerships?

After speaking with Gail Martin from DreamSpinner Communications, it turns out that there is a lot to think about when a ‘For-Profit’ company is looking to partner with a ‘Non-Profit’ company….Here is what she had to say:

1. Why would a For-Profit Company partner with a Non-Profit?

Many reasons….It could be that a member of their leadership team has an active interest in a particular cause and wants to support it throughout his organization. By supporting the local economy and region by which you work in, through a partnership with a Non-Profit, it creates a better community to live and work in and as a result, the For-Profit that works out of that community will benefit by drawing upon a more talented workforce as they operate within a geographic region that is attractive to top talent. We have seen the emergence of Partnerships between For-Profits and Non-Profits for victims of Katrina in an effort to re-build communities that were hit hard by the natural disaster, and all is in an effort to attract people to the region and bring it back to a viable place to work and live.

2. What are the first steps that a For-Profit Company should take, when looking to partner with a Non-Profit?

Great question. This can be broken down in to three (3) basic parts:

1. Do your Due Diligence….Learn about them. How they operate?, What they stand for?, Who they serve?, What their employee make up is? Where they operate? Etc…..
2. Ensure that there is interest in the program you are putting together…Get commitment at all levels and emphasize communication from pre-launch, through to launch and ensure that accountabilities and responsibilities are well outlined and assigned.
3. Understand the cultural difference of a Non-Profit…..You need to accept the differences between For-Profit and Non-Profit and accept those differences. Also, many Non-Profits are Volunteer driven, so their timelines work differently as they are measured differently.
   

3. What’s an interesting learning or observation that you have seen in the For-Profit / Non-Profit Cause Related Partnership space?

What I typically have seen is that Large Corporate companies are less likely to get involved in Cause Related Partnerships than local privately held companies or ‘Mom and Pop’ shops. Large Corporates are less likely to take the time to look at the communities that they operate in and work with local Non-Profits because they are not as permanently vested in the those communities, at least from a senior management perspective, which ultimately makes the decisions surrounding Partnership initiatives. Having said that, there are exceptions…Like McDonald’s and their Ronald McDonald Houses across North America, but for the most part, executives in head offices that are removed from the communities they operate in are not as likely to form regional Cause Related Partnerships that will help the multiple geographic areas that they operate in, especially because each and every region faces different issues and has different social priorities.


You can read more about Gail Martin and DreamSpinner Communications here…