Best business/charity partnership (larger charities with over

Howard Lake | 24 May 2013 | Blogs

For the best relationship between a charity and a business that provides benefit to the charity within the eligibility criteria.

The shortlisted entries are:

• Beanstalk/London Evening Standard
• British Red Cross/Landrover
• Marie Curie/Homeserve

Beanstalk/London Evening Standard

Beanstalk’s Get London reading campaign with the London Evening Standard raised awareness of the issue of illiteracy, raised the profile of the charity (formerly Volunteer Reading Help) and raised over £1m. The campaign began in June 2011 and featured hard-hitting articles at regular intervals in the Standard, citing case studies of people who had a personal connection with illiteracy.

The main fundraising drive was carried out prior to launch, asking key London businesses to pledge towards the campaign. Beanstalk benefited through the funds raised and the increased profile and also by acquiring 600 new volunteers, against a target of 100.

For the Standard, its role as a campaigning newspaper has grown considerably and the campaign strengthened engagement with its readership. The Standard used its networks and profile to engage with business and philanthropists prior to launch and the proposition was simple and effective – ‘volunteer today, donate today – and change lives’.

Beanstalk provided compelling, emotional case studies to engage the audience, evidence of the need for its service and the impact it had on children’s lives.
 

British Red Cross/Landrover

In 2010 the Intenrational Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and Land Rover set up a three-year partnership called ‘Reaching vulnerable people around the world’. The partnership works on a global scale, down to local community level in 15 countries.

The partnership funds two global humanitarian programmes in Sierra Leone and China, creates country partnerships between 15 Land Rover markets and their national Red Cross societies and shares vital skills – 4×4 driving in extreme weather (Land Rover) and Save a life (Red Cross. It also provides a global platform to tell people about Land Rover’s commitment to sustainability while generating further support for the IFRC. Each of the 15 countries set up their own local relationships with Land Rover.

As well as funding, specific KPIs were to reach 120,000 people foe the projects in Sierra Leone and China, to establish emergency protocols for all 15 country partnerships, to share skills (driver training and first aid training) and to create PR opportunities to showcase Land Rover’s vehicles and raise further awareness for the Red Cross.

In reality 340,000 beneficiaries in Sierra Leone and China have been reached, with 726,000 globally, and £3.9m worth of corporate funding, staff fundraising, gifts in kind and emergency appeals has been raised. Central project teams in the UK have managed the partnership with representatives from communications, marketing and programme/product divisions, with these teams replicated in the 15 markets.

Marie Curie Cancer Care/Homeserve

This three-year partnership set out to raise £1 million, provide 25,000 hours of nursing care and offer £500,000 of free home emergency cover to patients, enabling them to stay in their own homes during their final days. It had three main income streams, through staff fundraising, cause-related marketing and sponsorship.

A DVD and fundraising packs were produced to engage employees at the start of the partnership. The £1m fundraising target was reached six months ahead of schedule, but employees carried on fundraising.

This was the first time that HomeServe had taken on a national charity partnership and they chose to support one charity for three years, using their core business skills to help give back to the local community.

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.