The 3 things I hear on nearly every corporate partnerships call

I’m just back from a holiday, and I’ve been in a pretty reflective mood. Over the past 7 years I’ve had countless conversations with non-profits about corporate partnerships, and before that I was inside one. What gets me is that the challenges we seem to face haven’t really changed.

I took a look at our Readiness Q&A (a free tool that helps you assess your readiness for corporate partnerships), which over 700 changemakers across Australia and New Zealand have now completed, and the same three sticking points come up again and again…

1. “I don’t know where to even begin”

“I’ve been told to get partners but I have no roadmap, no structure, no starting point.”

About a third of the charities and social enterprises who’ve done our Readiness Q&A say a lack of strategy or a clear starting point is what’s holding them back. They need focus and direction.

Before you reach out to any corporate you need to get clear on why you even want corporate partners and how they could really drive your organisation forward. Our free intention setting exercise helps you do just that. Give it a go here

2. “I’m short on time or I don’t have time”

“Partnerships makes up a quarter of my role. How do I carve out the time to do this well with SO many other competing priorities?”

You might be a team of one, working part-time, or you might be juggling so many tasks that Cirque de Soleil wants your resume.

Are you saying yes to too many things? Taking on tasks that aren’t really your job, or dare I say aren’t really important? Do you have a way of filtering requests?

Try blocking out stretches of uninterrupted time each week and protect it. It’s so easy to get bogged down in the day to day, and deep thinking and partnership strategy development rarely win against “urgent” requests.

Before you can claim that time though, it’s worth asking yourself a harder question: how important is success in corporate partnerships, really? To you, your role, and your organisation?

If the honest answer is “very”, that’s your case for being given the time to advance it. If no one above you can answer that question clearly either, that’s worth unpacking too.

3. “I don’t know what we have to offer”

“Even if I got that first meeting with a corporate, I wouldn’t know what we have to offer, let alone the dollar figure I should put forward.”

Now this is a big one because without it, you’re relying on selling the warm and fuzzies. Goodwill alone doesn’t make a partnership.

Start by listing everything your organisation currently has that could be of value to a corporate partner. Do you have a CEO who could present to a corporate’s staff? A newsletter that could feature a partner’s brand? An event a corporate could take part in? Jot down everything you already do and could offer.

As for the value side of it? We have a robust way of assigning dollar values to assets based on formulas and worksheets not guesswork. Check out our workshop here which helps value arguably your greatest asset, your brand.

What it costs when you’re stuck

These challenges are easy to put off, because nothing about them feels urgent. But left alone, they quietly chip away at the quality of your work, your motivation, your confidence and your connection to the cause you work for.

When people tell me what it costs them not to have corporate partners, a lot have said it can directly impact their mission. They can’t reach or support as many people as they want to. They can’t advance critical research. They can’t continue to regenerate environments. Their impact is limited.

Let’s get you unstuck

Now I don’t pretend to know it all (heck, who does?), but I promise I can help.

I see you. I get it. And I’ve been there too.

I’ve been lucky to work with over 350 changemakers, so chances are at least one of them has been in a boat much like yours.

So book a call with me. Tell me where you’re at and what’s frustrating you, and I’ll give you my top takeaways for your situation. No strings. No selling. Just an honest, confidential conversation.

Sometimes talking to someone outside your organisation is exactly what gets you unstuck. It’s worked for me.

Book a call and let's talk corporate partnerships

Georgia McIntosh

Chief Communicator, BePartnerReady.com®