How to Find (and Keep) Business Partners

So you’re sold on cause marketing for your nonprofit organization. You know the benefits and done the research. Now all you need is a partner, right? Here are some steps to consider as you develop your business partnerships.
Planning
Recruiting
Managing
Evaluating

Planning

Conduct an Asset Inventory

Sit down with your core team and list out all the assets your nonprofit organization has to offer, such as:

Reputation and goodwill
Technical expertise and specific knowledge
Compelling stories
Digital assets such as photos, videos, etc.
A facility that shows your mission in action
Active community of supporters, advocates, volunteers, etc.
A well-trafficked website
Outstanding social media presence
Credibility among a specific target group
Existing relationships with influential individuals such as politicians, celebrities, community members, etc.

Develop Internal Policies
Before you go into the marketplace seeking out corporate partners, be sure that your senior management is on board with your cause alliance development strategy. As master cause marketer Kurt Aschermann puts it, get very clear on what your organization will do and what it won’t do.

In addition, make sure that you are organized internally to service corporate alliance partners. All the hard work that went into developing a corporate relationship will be squandered if your organization can not deliver on what it has promised to accomplish.

For more on this, view Kurt Aschermann’s article “The 10 Commandments of Cause-Related Marketing.”
Identify Potential Partners
Identify businesses that make sense for your mission. Ideas include businesses:

That sell a product you use
Whose missions align with your cause
Whose culture aligns with your cause
With a stated philanthropic preference for your cause category
That share a similar geographic reach (e.g. local, regional, national)
With whom you have some sort of existing relationship (board member association, geographic neighbor)

Do The Research
Understand what the target business’s unique selling proposition is and what products or services they offer. Know their mission and values statement. Take a look at what their competitors are doing. Research which causes the business has supported in the past, whether they have an existing cause marketing or philanthropic program and corporate social responsibility office and what their employee volunteer program looks like. Places to research your target businesses:

Internal press releases
Annual reports
Corporate or brand website and social media outposts
Internet search for business name and “employee volunteer” or “community involvement” or “philanthropy” or “giving” or “corporate social responsibility”

Recruiting

Consider The Approach
Now that you know what you have to offer and have narrowed down your target list with research, it’s time to start the recruitment process. Most cause marketing partnership experts will tell you to approach a business first for information-gathering purposes only. However, you need to demonstrate that you’ve done your research to get a foot in the door. A few tips on approaching businesses for initial meetings:

Network to see if you can get a “warm” introduction to the business. Even front-line employee introductions are better than a pure cold call.
Develop a compelling pitch that demonstrates that you’ve done your research and arouses curiosity on the part of the business.
Ask for a brief meeting with the sole purpose of understanding the business’s goals and philosophy more completely.

Conduct an Initial Meeting
The goal of your first meeting should be to learn about your potential partners needs and give them a feel for what your organization is about and what it can “bring to the party.” When you get together, respect time limits and be prepared to:

Give a high-level overview of your mission and goals
Provide basic statistics about the benefits of nonprofit partnership for businesses
Show that you’ve done your research on the business and probe to learn what their needs are.
Describe some of the assets and capabilities your organization could bring to a corporate alliance.
Talk at a high-level about what a potential partnership might entail and how your organizations might work together
Send a written thank-you note after the meeting

Submit a Proposal
It may take several meetings before to determine if the time is right for your organizations to work together. When an opportunity emerges, it’s time to develop a formal proposal. Consider including:

Why your organization and the business are a good fit
A specific business goal that your organization is uniquely positioned to help the business accomplish
What your organization will contribute to the partnership, including key team members
What the business will contribute to the partnership, including desired team members
A tactical plan for what the partnership will accomplish in what timeframe
How outcomes will be measured

Negotiate
Rarely will a proposal be accepted exactly as presented. Make sure you’re prepared to negotiate on key points and be clear on what potential deal-breakers might be for your organization. Understand the impact of changes to your proposal and be prepared to explain the potential impacts.

Managing

Craft an Agreement
Whether it’s called a contract, a statement of work or a letter of agreement, make sure to document your partnership in writing to ensure clear expectations from both sides. Your proposal will serve as a starting point for this agreement and should be reviewed by your legal counsel. There may be legal requirements that either you or the business needs to meet. Other items you might want to include in this agreement:

Significant project milestones
Roles and responsibilities
Team members from each organization
Status meeting schedule and anticipate channels
Exact quantity of monetary or in-kind donations and when they will be received
Where monetary or in-kind donations will be routed, if applicable (e.g. general fund vs. special allocations)

Communicate
The most-successful partnerships have one thing in common: thorough and effective communication from both parties. To ensure your partnership enjoys the highest levels of communication, consider the following:

Regular check-in meetings. Use these meetings to ensure everyone is on the same page, troubleshoot challenging areas and brainstorm needed ideas.
Shared documents. Ensure everyone has access to relevant documents on a shared drive (Google Docs and DropBox both offer free document-sharing services).
Clear project plan. Take responsibility to develop a project plan that lays out major milestones, roles and deliverables. This will provide a road map for where the project has been and where it’s headed.
Measure. You should’ve established measurement outcomes at the onset of the project. Be sure to take and report on outcomes frequently.
Address difficulties early. If challenges arise, be sure to address them promptly and document the agreed-upon solutions.
If necessary, refer to your partnership agreement to keep everyone on the same page. That’s what it’s there for.

Evaluating

Develop Lessons Learned
Once a collaborative project has been concluded, it’s important to revisit key areas for lessons learned by holding a debrief meeting. This will help both your organization and your business partner, whether or not you decide to continue your partnership. Put the most emphasis on what your organization could have done better or more effectively.

Enhance and Renew The Relationship
Assuming you’d like to continue the relationship, ask permission to submit a proposal that incorporates lessons learned to make the partnership even more successful the next time around. Explain that many partnership arrangements take several years to accomplish their overall goals.

Be sure to incorporate the feedback you received during your debrief meeting into any future proposals or acknowledge the reasons suggestions were not incorporated.

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How to Find (and Keep) Business Partners

Planning

Recruiting

Managing

Evaluating