Navigating the Corporate Seas Part 2
I’m sharing my best tips on navigating the often-treacherous corporate seas, distilled into 26 practical steps to help you sail smoothly and reach shore with high-value partners in 2026. Navigating the Corporate Seas Part 1 was all about preparing your organisation for the journey, covering tips 1-10. Now it’s time to embed your corporate partnerships strategy and start navigating the open seas, with tips 11-20:
Setting Sail (Embed the Corporate Partnerships Strategy)
11. Assemble Your Crew: Don’t go it alone. Surround yourself with a supportive team who can offer fresh perspectives, challenge your thinking, and contribute valuable input.
12. Commit to Weekly Progress: Dedicate consistent time each week to move your strategy forward. Around a day per week over nine months (about 20 hours a month) is ideal.
13. Anchor Your Value: Develop a compelling proposition highlighting your organisation’s unique strengths and value. Value your brand and value your marketing/fundraising assets. You can value your brand here
14. Prioritise Partnerships: Lead with partnership discussions; have a sponsorship proposal as a fallback. Identify at least one event, program, or campaign that a corporate could sponsor, in the event that they’re not quite ready for a full partnership. You can learn how to package a sponsorship proposal here
15. Chart Your Course Backwards: Timing is everything. Be mindful of corporate budget cycles and approach them when they have the appetite (and budget) to partner. For companies on a July-June financial year (mostly Australian companies) the best time to present is February-March when they’re discussing the budget. Another time is August, if you’re pitching to global companies (who operate on a calendar year).
Navigating the Open Seas (You’re on the Journey)
16. Stock Your Supplies: Tools include having a clear Intention (you can set one using our free Template here), an assets inventory, prospect list, credentials presentation, internal engagement guidelines, impactful video, and social impact examples.
17. Research the Prospect: Understand where the company’s funding comes from (either the HR, philanthropic, CSR or marketing purse) as this will inform what they want from a partnership. Research prospects to find synergies. Learn more about the 4 purses of funding here
18. Right Person: Tailor your approach to the correct contact - marketing, CSR, HR - not just a Board connection.
19. Email Approach: Request a meeting succinctly without selling (that comes at the meeting!). Follow up at least 3 times using different methods to lock in a meeting.
20. Ask the Right Questions: Q1) What problem is their company solving? Q2) What is the cost of that problem? Q3) In any charity partnership, which purse is funding the activity? Q4) what is the scale or type of campaign they envision? Q5) Budget allocation and timing?
Check out Part 3 next month, where I’ll share my tips for landing a corporate partnership – which is when the real work begins.
Hailey Cavill-Jaspers
