6 ideas for the rest of the year for working with corporate donors
Business has no time for us now - a common statement that you hear almost daily from your colleagues not only at work, but also in the professional community. Indeed, every organization today is undergoing changes, they are related to the product line, to the composition of the team, to the sales market, to the search for new suppliers and much, much more. Yes, a number of organizations have revised their charity programs and budgets for social projects. But does this mean that business doesn't care about us? Not at all. Mature organizations that have built their charity policy on values are unlikely to give up for nothing. Our task is to find the right approaches to strengthening relationships and supporting each other today and in the long term.
  • 1
    Perform a positional analysis.
    Positional - from the word position. Your task is to understand how your partners feel. Start with a very simple action - do some research through search engines. Look at every company that has supported you in the last two years, what news has been released, what is happening with their industry and area of work. Examine the social media accounts of the employees you are in communication with and the accounts of the companies' senior staff. Try to identify trends in different areas by studying professional articles and interviews. Only then can you formulate personalized proposals for 2023 for each corporate donor.
  • 2
    Offer test donations.
    Test means for small amounts. Think about how $500 or $1,000 could support your organization. Make a series of proposals for small businesses that could potentially make regular small donations. We recommend "reaching out" to new markets with such proposals, i.e. to those partners with whom you have either not worked for a long time or have not worked in principle. You will have a list of such companies after a qualitatively done analysis in the first paragraph. Studying professional business reviews, form an idea of those industries that are currently feeling comfortable.
  • 3
    Create a supporting environment.
    We talked about this tool in our previous article when we recommended doing an e-mail series or a follow-up newsletter for your donors. Think about what services your corporate donors could benefit from today - both their employees and their clients. Make such a list of "products" and spread the word. Perhaps you provide psychological or legal consultations, care for adults and children, organize creative and not only master classes, promote mental health. Make a complete list of your offerings and tell your partners about it.
  • 4
    Think about the current activity.
    Is it worth it now to host entertainment events and look for partners for them? Organization birthdays, New Year's Eve, races, tournaments, etc.? Sure, if it's not your current primary (statutory) activity. It may be worth revising your plan of usual activities for the fall-winter and a number of events should be replaced or filled with other meanings. Talk about this topic with your team and your most loyal corporate donors, whether you should adjust your agenda and become more relevant in your proposals.
  • 5
    Share contacts and ideas.
    If you haven't yet created a corporate donor club or a networking environment, now is the time to do it. Organize a space (time and place) for networking. Think about how your partners can learn about each other, how they could be useful to each other. This goes for your counterparts too, you probably have a cool tagger or designer, photographer or editor, cameraman or animator, why not talk about them and share contacts. Such a simple action will reveal you as a caring friend who is open to any solutions.
  • 6
    Set goals that are not about money.
    Something new for the fundraiser? Measure your monthly performance metrics in actions, not amounts. If you can't follow a fundraising plan, try setting yourself daily and weekly goals in the number of calls, messages, meetings, other fundraising activities. This will help you shift your focus, but will invariably lead to results if you do the work every day. In general, your key task now is to be in constant communication, pay more attention to your partners, and focus on building relationships as a process, not expecting quick and instant results.
Build off of other organizations in your proposals. This recommendation now takes on added weight as you have time and opportunity to figure out with whom and how you want to continue to collaborate in 2024. The current year has indeed brought a lot of changes in our activities, and presented us with more chances to become a trusted partner for businesses in realizing the social agenda. Study the trends and think regularly about how to meet them at least, or better yet, how to set them in your daily activities.