Lessons from charities for building an engaging corporate partnership

Lesson #1: Corporate partnerships are good news for charities AND businesses…

It goes without saying that corporate partnerships are a great way to bring in cash, broaden your fundraising portfolio, and help make sure your organisation has the resources and reserves it needs to grow. But it isn’t just about what this money can do today. The charity marketplace is very crowded and partnering with a high-profile brand like the Access Group is a great way to boost your visibility and reach new audiences. Success breeds success, and if you’ve got a winning corporate partnership under your belt you can also use it as an example to inspire and secure new supporters.

For the Access Group, we found that focussing our efforts on one single charity partner was exactly what we needed to get us all ‘rowing in the same direction’. The personal stories behind each nomination really brought people together. We also found skills we didn’t know we had! Developing an engaging and active fundraising calendar thew out some weird and wonderful requests that really helped us get to know our team. It made for some great PR, and employees (old and new) definitely like to see their company so committed to giving back.

Of course, there is also the satisfaction of a job well done. For our partners, the money raised and skills shared helped mobilise some important services. For Access, these last three years have shown us exactly what we’re made of. They have given us, and our charity partners, the confidence to do more!

Lesson #2: Break your target into bite-size pieces

A six-figure fundraising target is very daunting. We found that the best way to manage it was to break it down into smaller parts. We realised that to reach our target, we needed every member of staff to donate around £6.60 a month for 12 months. That’s about two cups of coffee each. When you think about it like this, it isn’t nearly so terrifying. So we set about creating some quick and easy ways for people to donate, including:

• Our very own ‘Round to the pound’ app which made it easy for Access employees to donate the pennies on their monthly pay cheque up to the nearest pound.
• The Access Lottery was a monthly event, and with all tickets going straight to charity it was a great way to keep a low level of donations rolling in.
• We even created our very own giving product that saw a percentage of our profits donated straight to charity!

With the foundations in place, we complemented this income with a series of activities and fundraising events. It didn’t take long before the totaliser went up!

Lesson #3: Be the disruptor, not the disrupted

Like so many charities across the UK, we delivered at least a year of our partnerships in a global pandemic. It wasn’t easy, but ultimately we decided to seize the digital and remote working opportunity COVID created. Many of the technologies in the lesson above were developed during lockdown times. We also offered a range of virtual events and opportunities – keeping tabs on our progress with an internal fundraising website. It was really important for people to see the impact of their activity and the total funds raised. An in-house leader board also helped create a bit of healthy competition, encourage and inspire people to get involved and do more.

Lesson #4: There are two organisations, but only one team

One of the great things about the Access Charity of the Year partnership is that it’s just that. A partnership. This isn’t about two organisations doing their own thing. It’s about coming together with a common goal, and working together to achieve it. For us, we found that having a single point of contact with each of our charity partners made life so much easier. We knew we had someone we could call on if we needed advice, and a sounding board for ideas. We also LOVED it when our partners came to us with initiatives and events the Access team could sign-up to. Easy!

For our partners, we know that appointing an internal coordinator made everything go that little bit more smoothly. It kept communication flowing and momentum going. But it didn’t stop there. The key to a successful charity partnership is buy-in at every level. Laura helped make this happen, bringing in our CEO and working with each of our offices to appoint an internal ‘Charity Champion’. From the top down to the bottom-up, they were a truly company-wide event.

Lesson #5: Don’t forget to have fun

In a world full of targets, deadlines and pandemic chaos, our charity partnerships brought us some much-needed fun. Yes, there’s a serious message behind them. But for us, fundraising events were a chance to do something a little bit different, to have fun, get to know each other and enjoy the process of giving back.

Lesson #6: Remember why

It’s a proud moment, hitting your target. It’s an even prouder moment, seeing the smiles on your colleagues faces. Knowing that your hard work has made a real different to their lives, and to those of so many others. Whether it’s celebrating the birth of a new baby born free from EB, offering parents the chance to learn sign-language, or bringing vital support services to children, adults and families affected by Bipolar disorder – our charity partnerships have, and will, make a difference.

At their heart, it is the stories of our people that drive us. Because we know there are more, and that our journey into the world of corporate charity partnerships is only just beginning.

We can’t wait to see what this next year will hold! 

Huge thanks to our Charity Partnership Coordinator, Laura Featherstone, to Jenny Jackson of DEBRA, Elle Billinge at NDCS and Lorna Morgan-Glanfield of Bipolar UK for making this session so memorable. And of course, to every single fundraiser and charity team for making our partnership such a positive experience.

Take a look at our resources on creating a successful charity website