When embarking on a corporate partnerships strategy, it’s critical to know that there are two levels of readiness. Often when non-profits and social enterprises consider commencing a corporate partnerships strategy, their first action is to ask the board for contacts within the business sector. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s something that should be done way down the track, and certainly not at the start.

Why? Because there is a conversation to be had prior to engaging your Board in a strategy that could be doomed to fail, damaging your team’s credibility in their eyes and wasting their time and contacts.

What’s the conversation?

The conversation starts with three questions. 

1) Are we ORGANISATIONALLY ready to pursue corporate partnerships

2) are we PARTNER ready so that our investment will produce a result and

3) WHY do we want a corporate partner?

If you haven’t asked these questions start now.

After the pandemic, and whilst...

I spent the Christmas holidays indulging in passion – making stuff (calling it ‘art’ is a bit of a stretch).  I invaded my husband’s workshop (he’s a proper artist, unlike me) and threw myself into making a sculpture that’s been nudging my subconscious for years saying ‘make me, make me’.  Creating helps me to relax & get away from the screen – but most of my projects never see the light of day.  I usually abandon them midway, realising that my skills don’t match my vision, and the half-finished projects litter the storeroom. 

This time something was different.  As I erected my completed giant ‘liquorish all sorts’ sculpture at the front of our driveway (a welcome to ‘all-sorts of people’ – burglars and psychopaths aside) I reflected on why this one was successful.

It really came down to three critical factors:

1)       Preparation

I...

London, 1980’s: My padded shoulders, permed hair and I, worked with leadership teams and marketing managers within multinational companies (Unilever, J&J, Cadbury’s to name a few). Upon arriving in Australia in 1994, I began working with amazing Australian companies through my company Cavill + Co, advising on their CSR & building partnerships for blue chips including Disney Australia, AMP, Mondelez, Vodafone, SEEK and many more.

I’ve acquired so much knowledge rubbing shoulders with corporates, but a vital learning is that data drives decisions in most corporations and brands.  Unlike non-profits (who tend to have an intuitive sense of what the community needs, and let’s face it, often don’t have the budget for large scale research projects), corporates and brands invest heavily in research to understand customer wants & needs, in order to predict – and deliver – services & products to meet them.

To understand corporate...

Late last year we released new research with Di Marzio Research that reveals - despite the turmoil in the economy created by COVID, rising unemployment and lockdowns - consumers are insisting that companies and brands do more to support causes

The research report entitled ‘The Conscious Consumer era arrives. Finally’ shows that almost half of Australians feel let down by corporates who are failing to meet their societal obligations, and 2 in 3 Australians believe that corporates should be doing more to solve societal problems in tough times.

During COVID consumers have reflected on the kind of world they want to live in, and realised that the most powerful weapons they have to create positive social change are their voices (through petitioning and campaigning on social media), and their wallets.

Almost half of Australians say they will switch from their normal brand to another brand if it supports a charity, and in the past year, one-third of Australians have...

You’d be hard pressed to find a more passionate advocate for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) than Indeya Passfield, a savvy digital marketer.  Working for Fourth Wave Wines - an innovative company which combines modern brands with high-quality contemporary winemaking – Passfield says it’s also a commitment to CSR which motivates her and her colleagues.

“We do our best work when we are passionate about the cause - we are a company that sees the opportunity to be a part of the change. It’s about the future - helping and supporting others in the community. The people that work with us are talented, clever, and business-minded – and we all have a heart,” she says.

This motivation to give back and support causes is a driver for many Australian consumers of all ages according to new research ‘The Conscious Consumer Era arrives. Finally’. The report finds that 3 out of 4 Australian consumers believe corporates should partner...

A much publicised and powerful partnership that got it right on so many levels, is Nestle’s KitKat and the R U OK? campaign. The alignment between a chocolate bar that is synonymous with ‘taking a break’ and a mental health organisation that encourages the question ‘R U OK?’ was a clever and very timely partnership, emerging at just the right time when the pandemic restrictions were causing severe havoc with many people’s mental health.

The campaign encouraged people to “have a chit chat,” with a positive impact.  Limited edition KitKat wrappers carried the RU OK? labelling, reminding Aussies to have a break and use the time to ask their friends and family “are you OK?”

Nestlé head of marketing confectionery Joyce Tan said: “As a brand, KitKat is synonymous with taking a break, whether it’s at work or at home, long or short, it’s important to take some time out. How that time is spent...

If it feels like the sky is falling, purse those lips and get ready to kiss the stars. Because whether it is, or it isn’t, your response will create your reality.

Here we reveal more stats from the awesome McCrindle/Cint[1] research study addressing How Australians are responding to COVID-19 and our interpretation for changemakers.

If you want to understand business confidence, look to consumers. Their feelings, confidence and buying behaviours are excellent indicators of how quickly companies will bounce back.

In March, 45% of Australians were feeling anxious in response to the unfolding pandemic, but in June, interestingly, the amount of those feeling anxious fell to 38%. As we look to establish new societal norms, a sense of hope has increasingly returned (from 27% in March to 35% in June).

The biggest impact has been social - far above the financial, mental, or physical impact. 42% believe COVID-19 has negatively impacted them socially, while 28% have been negatively...

There’s always an opportunity on the other side of a crisis, it all depends where you look. A fascinating research study landed on my desk recently from McCrindle/Cint[1], addressing How Australians are responding to COVID-19.

Here’s my interpretation of the data as it relates to changemakers who are considering partnering with corporates. All stats are from the McCrindle research unless otherwise stated.

Whilst COVID-19 completely blind-sided almost everyone (aside from those in epidemiology) Australians have emerged resilient, generous, and for the most part, hopeful.

Unemployment – and underemployment[2] - has increased during COVID-19 from 5.2% in March to 6.2% in April (the latest stats show unemployment at 7.4% in June [3]).

Healthwise, older Australians are more at risk from the virus impacting their health. But it’s younger Australians who have felt it most economically - in terms of job losses, financial impact and mental health.

This means that for...

I grew up in a family surrounded by a lot of woo woo.  My Auntie was a medium (tv fame no less) and every weekend as my dad drooled over the Page 3 girl in the Daily Mirror, my mum and I would salivate over the horoscope predictions.  When I entered the world of marketing & PR, I began to understand the role that data played in decision making, and I learned that just because you believe something, doesn’t make it true.  And then I met (and married) a hardened sceptic, so now I question everything!

There’s one thing that I know to be true however which, until now, hasn’t been proven.  It’s known as ‘gut feeling’ or ‘intuition’.  Ever since I started living independently at aged 16, I always consulted my gut on big life decisions.  It’s rarely betrayed me, aside from perhaps boys, but I blame hormones for that!

I’ve built ‘gut feel’ into several of my business processes and in...

We’re now two months into our program and I thought you might find it valuable for me to share some of the key takeaways I’ve learned whilst completing the Modules along with the students.

For those who don’t know, I (Georgia) have been the Chief Transitioner, bringing Hailey’s incredible tried & tested process into an online format.  I’ve been creating the ‘best practice’ outputs for each Module for the students to follow. Doing this has given me a deep and illuminating insight into how the process works and I've been able to share my personal experience (pitfalls and all) with the students before they begin each Module.

Here’s what I have to say about the first two exercises – the Intention and the SWOTA.

Intention

When changemakers decide to partner with corporates they tend to miss the first critical steps and jump right into prospecting…asking their Board for contacts (we’ve written about why this...