Corporate-NGO partnerships will play key role in addressing cost-of-living crisis impact
Melanie May | 28 September 2022 | News
Collaborations between business and charities will play a key role in the efforts of both to address the impacts of the cost-of-living crisis, according to the C&E Corporate-NGO Partnerships Barometer 2022.
Released by C&E Advisory, the annual Barometer is the culmination of a survey of professionals from companies and nonprofit organisations both in the UK and worldwide. This year, its 13th, the Barometer has two main focuses. The first is on the cost-of-living crisis and how it features in cross-sector partnering. The second is how strategic partnerships are being used or likely to be used to address the issues raised the war in Ukraine and the impact on the cross-sector partnerships agenda going forward. It also reveals this year’s most admired partnerships.
Cost-of-living crisis
- 87% of corporates surveyed and 86% of NGOs say that the cost-of-living crisis is featuring or will feature strongly or moderately in their cross-sector partnerships.
- Two-thirds of corporate and NGO respondents say there’s a need to access hard-to-reach or low-income beneficiaries / customers.
- 61% of corporates say there’s a need to better determine the impact of their interventions.
- 95% of NGOs identify the need to raise funds and generate resources as key ways in which partnerships between companies and charities are helping to address the challenges arising from the cost-of-living crisis.
Ukraine war
The study also reveals that many charities not directly involved in providing support related to the war in Ukraine believe that the war will divert funds and attention away from other corporate-NGO partnerships. This, they believe, will impact efforts to alleviate both the cost-of-living crisis and other major issues, including global warming.
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Commenting on the findings, C&E Advisory CEO, Manny Amadi said:
“Exacerbated by war in Ukraine, the cost-of-living crisis is presenting an enormous challenge for the customers and beneficiaries of companies, charities and other stakeholders. However, it is encouraging to find from this Barometer study that cross-sector partnering is playing a key role in finding solutions.”
“Whilst it’s true that some practitioners have concerns about diversion of resources due to the war in Ukraine, and other NGOs are worried about their ability to meet the needs of their beneficiaries due to the cost-of-living crisis – findings from the Barometer also show that these crises are reinforcing the need for, and importance of, collaboration across sectors. Working together to access hard-to-reach customers and beneficiaries; gaining insights to sharpen the effectiveness of interventions; and working to secure much-needed resources – these are all important roles that companies, and charities are working together to address through well-designed collaborations.”
Most admired corporate-NGO partnerships
The 2022 Barometer also asked corporate and nonprofit respondents to identify their most admired corporate-NGO partnerships.
This year, for the first time, the Tesco-WWF partnership came top, having been runner-up in both 2020 and 2021. In second place is last year’s joint winner Boots UK–Macmillan Cancer Support partnership, which has featured consistently highly in the rankings for over a decade. In third place, and a new entrant to the top three, is HSBC and Shelter.
Tesco and WWF are working together on different initiatives to make the food Tesco offers more sustainable. Boots and Macmillan provide cancer support and advice on the high street through Boots stores and online. And HSBC and Shelter support clients who are homeless or with no previous or fixed address to access a bank account.
Amadi said:
“These organisations and partnerships are identified and admired by their peers for demonstrating strong and intuitive linkages between business purpose and their chosen causes; for the scale of their intent and efforts; and for the commitment with which the partners are leveraging and pooling relevant assets to achieve their joint goals.”
WWF’s Director of Partnerships Alex Lankester said:
“The way we produce and consume food is the biggest cause of global nature loss and a major contributor to climate change. That’s why fixing the food system is central to WWF’s mission to bring our world back to life, and working in partnership with Tesco, we’re driving change across the industry. We’re proud that the commitment and focus of the Tesco and WWF teams has been recognised by our peers in the partnerships space.”
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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.