It's Not Always About Money

If you let your relationships with funders be “only about the money,” your organization will miss out on valuable assets – which may be worth far more than the donation or grant amount in the long run. Okay, so that’s easy for me to say, having been on the corporate side of the relationship with nonprofit organizations. My first foray was all about donations and sponsorships of Atlanta area organizations, to benefit the company that employed me at the time. Win/Win was more like “you can win, if I get all the marbles first”. Over time, as some very kind leaders educated me, I found that working to share those marbles made possible a much bigger win for both parties. Every corporation wants to get the maximum positive coverage and impression from each donation or sponsorship. Can you blame them? Offering the company a logo position on your event banner, in the program, or the opportunity to be recognized at your event … trust me, you CAN put a price on those opportunities. Any organization having a fundraiser has done it – “Platinum,” “Gold,” and “Silver” are the equivalent of a pricetag. And for many corporations, that’s enough. - Perhaps they choose to be hands-off and not involve their employees in your organization’s work - Maybe they are making a token gesture in order to support a valued customer’s preferred nonprofit organization - Or maybe you’ve just been so persistent that they consider this the payoff to get you out of their face, figuratively speaking. Should it be this way? I think not. Any company has the ability to offer a nonprofit far more than just event sponsorship, cause marketing, or outright donations. Has your organization grown rapidly, but not enough to justify a human resource manager? Or have you let your founder manage all the marketing (ie development) of the organization because they have the passion? What if you need expertise, but can’t afford to hire consultants? Having an established rapport with your corporate donors means being able to ask them to donate intellectual capital – in the form of that HR manager who is seeking a meaningful opportunity to help in the community. S/He can develop an employee handbook and policy guide for you, so that you avoid future personnel issues. Or it could be that the company’s IT department can evaluate your current needs for equipment and software, and help you with installation, configuration, and customization. And the Marketing, PR, Legal, and other groups in a corporate setting are just as likely to be interested in sharing their skills with your nonprofit. You just have to build that connection, and to ask for help – not just for money.