Companies and nonprofits share one common goal – impact. From there, the road divides. Companies have other demographics they serve, especially if they’re publicly owned.
The impact goal is
a powerful one that has the potential to bring both sectors together. It
can help incorporate marketing in generating more sales while also bringing
needed and added revenue to charities.
How Does that
Happen?
Let’s consider the
example of a national retailer of kids’ clothing and toys. The retailer
has a goal to accelerate web traffic and increase online sales. The
national nonprofit helps troubled and disadvantaged kids by partnering them
with trained adult volunteer mentors in large cities across the country.
The problem is they have a lot more volunteers than they can place and train
and need more funds to expand its mentorship program
What might a successful partnership look like? The retailer would donate a portion of each sale to the nonprofit. In addition, it would allow interested employees to spend up to four hours a week on company time volunteering with the nonprofit’s chapter in the city where they work. It would also promote the alliance in its marketing and feature success stories in its publications.
In exchange, the
nonprofit would acknowledge the retailer throughout its national network.
They would not only recommend that its volunteers and supporters patronize the
retailer, but also ask them to spread the word among friends, families and business
associates. What also helped was the nonprofit saw the advantage of
reminding its subscribers to consider patronizing its retail partner on special
occasions like birthdays and the holiday season.
The Benefits of
Partnered Marketing
In addition to experiencing
an increase in revenue to expand its mentorship program, the nonprofit also
gained more volunteers from the company with whom it partnered. The
company’s marketing efforts also generated more volunteers and donations.
For the retailer,
it saw a steady increase in sales. In addition, employee morale and
loyalty spiked while turnover decreased. After the first year of the
partnership, the company was also honored by the nonprofit at its national
annual event and the resulting media publicity boosted the corporate
reputation. This made HR’s job of finding qualified candidates easier
because skilled younger workers wanted to work there. The value of the
publicity received by the company was immeasurable, not to mention the savings
in advertising.
If you’re
considering such a partnership, think about your line of services or
products. What services by nonprofits align with them and which
nonprofits are they?
Assemble your team
and lay out the possibilities. Draft a marketing plan that outlines the
benefits that a nonprofit partner would derive.
Go through your own
records and determine, if you can, whether any of your employees serve with or
are affiliated with any of the nonprofits you identified. If you identify
any employees, they’re the ones who can help open a door for you.
In the absence of any nonprofit connections, take and prioritize the list you drew up. The next step is to introduce your company to each one in the order you determined and share the draft of the marketing plan your team drew up. It should be a no-brainer for the nonprofit.
Written by
EPR Editorial Team
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
