Most corporate-charity partnerships small & short-term, study finds
Melanie May | 29 March 2018 | News
The majority of partnerships between charities and businesses are short-term with donations largely under £5,000, according to a study by New Philanthropy Capital.
In fact, 70% of donations from businesses are under £5,000, NPC’s Building More Impactful Corporate-Charity Partnerships report found. But, while 41% of the charities surveyed expect to partner more with private sector organisations over the next three years, NPC’s report states that these short-term small value relationships do not help charities to develop long-term projects that have sustainable impact, and that there is little point in having more corporate charity partnerships unless if this is the case.
In fact, the social impact of corporate-charity relationships is largely overlooked NPC found in interviews with a range of national businesses and charities including Macmillan Cancer Support, Alzheimer’s Society, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and National Grid. Instead, the vast majority of businesses (91%) cite enhancing brand or corporate reputation as their main impetus for partnering with NGOs, with resource generation the lead motivation for 92% of charities.
NPC is calling for corporate-charity partnerships to be re-examined and restructured with social impact the main incentive for forming partnerships instead. In its report, it lists what it believes needs to be improved in order to build more impactful corporate-charity partnerships: establishing an equal relationship, thinking beyond corporate social responsibility, designing effective volunteering, involving more partners, and measuring their impact.
The full report can be downloaded from the NPC site.
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.