How to onboard a corporate partner

Corporate partners are becoming increasingly important for charities, to help raise funds and awareness, as well as engage with volunteers from local businesses.

 

They are also increasingly important for the corporate organisations involved. According to research published in 2024 by soft drinks firm Britvic, a third of job candidates actively look for employers with charity link ups and the opportunity to take part in volunteering days and fundraising event.

 

The research also found that three in four employees at firms or organisations with charity initiatives reported high levels of engagement with their workplace, compared to just over half of workers where there were no such schemes.

 

But many charities are struggling to find businesses to form corporate partnerships with.

 

Two in five charities across England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland who want to collaborate with the private sector have yet to find a corporate partner, according to research carried out by social value management platform What Impact in 2024.

 

The picture is even more stark in Wales, where three in five who want to link up with businesses have failed to secure such a private sector partnership.

 

Below we look at the barriers to effective partnerships, ways these can be overcome, and what successful partnerships look like.

 

 

Barriers to corporate partnerships

 

According to What Impact, the biggest obstacle for charities to engage with firms and spend time building relationships is “lack of sufficient funding”. This was cited by more than half of respondents in England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

 

In Wales seven in ten said finding the money to spend on relationship building, such as hiring a corporate partnership specialist officer to run programmes, was a challenge. Around one in 12 charities said a lack of trustees with experience of forging corporate partnerships was a barrier.

 

Lack of time is another challenge, with one in five charities reporting that often corporate volunteers are not available to offer regular, consistent support, and can only spare a day. One charity told researchers that “it’s usually for a day or two, [but] we need someone prepared to commit to an eight-week programme”.

 

This highlights another barrier, which is a lack of understanding among corporates of how charities operate and from charities on how much time and resources firms can spare.

 

For example, many firms assume that a charity can host large groups at their centres to see their work. But that can be difficult due to time and staffing constraints.

 

What Impact found a key problem in this lack of understanding is difficulty communicating, with charities struggling to find the right people to form relationships with.

 

Another barrier to corporate partnership is a “gap in expectations”, What Impact found. One charity said too often firms see corporate volunteering as simply an “away day for the team”, when in reality “we struggle to find activities big enough for everyone” such as painting a building.

 

 

Breaking down barriers

 

Relationship building is key so that charities and firms have a greater understanding of their organisations, missions and needs from a partnership.

 

What Impact says successful collaborations “involve a shared understanding” of differences between private and voluntary sector organisations, which are run differently in terms of budget and motivations around profit.

 

A simple way to improve corporate volunteering, for example, is for a firm’s workers to give up their time for several weekends, which may be more convenient for some charities than weekday volunteering. This also locks in long-term support.

 

A better understanding among firms of the limited resources of charities is another solution. For example, as well as offering advice and expertise firms should help charities pay to enact ideas being given.

 

As one charity told researchers: “Although not super exciting, what we really need and appreciate is donations towards our core running costs – cash or materials”.

 

“There should be a candid conversation about what both parties wish to get out of the partnership to see whether a match is possible,” says What Impact.

 

Businesses and charities also need to end a “short-termism” in many relationships and instead foster long-term partnerships that aim to create meaningful change to people’s lives, according to research by Pro Bono Economics.

 

Its business and charity partnership report, which was published in October 2024, found that when partners “are united by a genuine shared purpose, they can drive systemic change that benefits society.

 

 

Successful partnerships

 

Among successful partnerships is England’s Football Association’s link up with the Alzheimer’s Society to raise awareness of possible links between sport and dementia, as well as funding for the charity.

 

This launched in 2021 amid to help fans and footballers sport the early signs of dementia and seek help. By 2024 it had raised £870,000 for the charity.  

 

Another strong, long term charity corporate link up is Tesco’s six-year partnership with Cancer Research UK, British Heart Foundation and Diabetes UK.

 

This combines the charities’ mission to improve people’s health with the retailer’s focus on selling its health products and services.   Through the partnership Tesco staff and customers are also involved in fundraising and health awareness raising.

 

As of autumn 2024, the retailer’s partnership has raised £29m for the three charities to fund medical research.

 

Even longer term is delivery firm DPD’s 30-year partnership with children’s charity Variety. As of 2024 the firm had donated 83 vehicles to the children’s charity, which focuses on providing trips and improving transport for children.