The Right Time to Pitch and Why

Too many non-profits fail at corporate partnerships because they pitch at the wrong time. Along with readiness, success comes down to pitching to the right person, at the right company, with the right offer - and at the right time.

Readiness is crucial and easy to identify with our free Readiness Q&A. Right person, right company, right offer - we teach that in BePartnerReady.com®. But timing? That’s trickier, because the right time to approach corporate prospects is influenced less by when you’re ready and more by when the market is ready.

Here’s the thing: you’re approaching a corporate, company, or brand for a partnership, and part of that exchange is money. You want to be in front of them when they’re planning how to spend their budget to fulfil objectives - when they’re receptive to new partnerships. Pitch too late, and the money’s gone. Pitch too early, and they’re not even thinking about it.

Having worked with corporates for 30 years and built over 50 partnerships for major companies like News Ltd, Disney, Vodafone, and Seek, I’ve learned what motivates them to invest and, more importantly, when they have the strongest appetite to invest.

Here’s what I’ve discovered:

• About 70% of corporates and companies operating in Australia (including their brands) follow a July–June financial year. They plan how to invest their budget about 3–4 months before the start of the financial year, so February/March. April and May are often too late, and January is hopeless because people are still on holidays or facing overwhelming inboxes.  These companies tend to be Australian public or private companies. Therefore February/March is the ideal time to pitch
• About 20% of corporates and companies follow a December-January financial year, meaning their planning window is roughly August/September. Later approaches are ineffective as staff wind down towards year-end and the Christmas break. These tend to be the global companies with HQs in USA, Europe or Asia. Therefore August/September is the ideal time to pitch
• The remaining 10% operate outside these two primary cycles. Commonly British companies on an October–September year, and in Aotearoa (NZ), around ¼ of companies run on a March–February cycle. Therefore the ideal time to pitch would be May/June and August/Sept respectively (excluding the dead months of Dec/Jan)
• These windows are consistent whether the company is investing from the marketing, CSR or HR purse, The Philanthropic Purse, however, can be a little different. Corporate foundations (I’ve worked with Vodafone, Mondelez, and Westpac Foundations) may follow pre-set rounds of investment or grants, often twice a year or quarterly. The good news: philanthropic teams are usually more communicative about funding windows, publishing application deadlines on their websites and through email alerts.

If you’d like to learn more about the 4 purses of investment and the purse holders – Philanthropic, HR, Marketing & CSR – download our free infographic.

Rule of thumb: pitch 3–4 months before the start of your prospects’ financial year (skip December and January as both are dead months when everyone is in Zombie mode!). Discovering their financial year is a crucial part of researching prospects (and yes, we provide a Template for that in our program!).

Why do non-profits fail to do this? Often, they’re driven by internal needs rather than the corporate mindset. Common mistakes include:

1. Board pressure: “We need more corporate partners!”. Staff scramble without preparation, strategy, or regard for whether corporates are even listening. Timing dictated by governance, not market.
2. Plugging budget holes: A grant falls through or fundraising dips, triggering a rush to “get a sponsor.” Corporates can sense desperation, and reactive timing rarely aligns with their planning.
3. Last-minute event rescue: A sponsor pulls out just before an event, prompting frantic, ill-timed pitches.
4. New team members: Pressure to “make their mark” can lead to rushed approaches met with closed door or silence

The danger of going at the wrong time is three-fold: people become demotivated and adopt a scarcity mindset, organisations wrongly decide corporate partnerships isn’t a lucrative strategy for them, and charity reputations suffer when corporates see unprofessional, poorly timed approaches.

The right time to pitch is when the corporate is discussing and planning their budget for the following year. Pitch any other time, and even the best offer may be ignored. At best you may get leftover crumbs. If it’s a transformative partnership you’re aiming for, pitch at the right time - you deserve so much more than crumbs.

Hailey Cavill-Jaspers