Partner With A Charity: A Guide

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Updated: October 8th, 2022

What Is A Charitable Partnership?

A charitable partnership happens when a business partners and works with a charitable organization.

In addition to ethical reasons, partnering with charities can support brand reputation and cultural influence.

Associating your business with a cause should align with your values and ethics as a brand.

In this post, we explain why startups need to consider charitable partnerships as a marketing idea, and present few examples of organizations that have entered into charitable partnerships.

Charitable Partnership Key Takeaways

Workplace giving is one of the most cost-effective ways to support charities.
Selecting the right charity partner can prove to be invaluable for organizations.
*Consumers increasingly choose brands based on CSR values.
According to the Huffington Post, 92% of companies find that brand alignment with charitable partners is important.

Understanding How Charitable Partnerships Work

For startups, the decision to partner with a charity may seem counterintuitive. This is because businesses focus on increasing sales and growing margins.

Well, sales and profit margins are important to any business. However, do not forget that supporting a worthy cause helps organizations to connect with customers. and increases networking opportunities.

Signing a charity partnership gives an organization the opportunity to support a worthwhile cause while building a good PR and achieving brand awareness.

Essentially, startups need to choose charity partnerships strategically, for the organization to achieve the greatest possible impact.

here are different ways partnering with a charity helps startups

Here are important reasons to consider charity partnerships.

1. Build Brand Awareness

Businesses that enter into charity partnerships create a link between the business and the charity.

That link goes a long way into gaining brand publicity.

To maximize the publicity, make note of your contributions to the partner's website and social media organizations.

Besides, you can mention your charitable contributions in newspaper, sponsored radio shows, or even a simple TV ad.

2. Charitable Deeds Market Your Organization

If you decide to contribute a certain percentage from every sale, it is likely that more people will support your brand.

Ultimately, you will realize an increase in sales, which is a great chance to build product trust and gain customer loyalty.

3. Targeting Opportunity

Choosing the right charity gives you an opportunity to reach niche customers.

Therefore, rather than opting for size, think of how a charity aligns with your brand and you will find it easier to reach your target customers.

4. Unlocks New Networking Opportunities

Charitable partnerships may involve a couple of events and meetings.

Such events and meetings provide numerous networking opportunities where you could meet decision-makers.

Depending on your approach, charitable networking connects you to business partners that account for a sizable chunk of your revenue.

5. Gives Back To The Community

Partnering with a charity is your opportunity to help other people.

Consider that charities allow businesses to target and help causes they care about.

Through giving back to the community, you increase the chances of getting remembered by target consumers whenever they are making a purchase decision.

Real World Examples Of Charity Partnerships

here are a couple of examples illustrating how brands partner with charitable organizations to build brand awareness.

1. How P&O Cruises Partnership With Charity Achieved Increase Brand Awareness.

P&O Cruises partnered with Teenage Cancer Trust, a partnership that begun in 2015 and raised more than a million Euros, funds that went into helping the charitable organization.

To raise the monies, the P&O team took part in fundraising initiatives at their head office and even included their clients by taking the campaign on board.

At least $300,000 was raised through the P&O cruises “Trek the Deck Challenge”

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“Treck the Deck” challenge was originally launched on two ships during summer 2018, bit was so popular with passengers that it is now a year-round feature on the entire fleet.

2. Bloom & Blossom Partners With Action For Children To Help Children Thrive

Bloom & Blossom is a leading manufacturer of skincare products.

A line of their products is dedicated to childcare. The brand seeks to help families thrive by ensuring children grow up safe and happy.

The brand was seeking an opportunity to reach its target audience and decided to partner with Action for children, a charitable organization.

Through the partnership, Bloom & Blossom sought to help transform the lives of some of the most vulnerable young people across the UK.

Bloom & Blossom dedicated 10% donations from their wonder Worker product, along with the checkout donation via their e-commerce website.

How To Partner With Charitable Organisation

1. Make Sure The Charitable Organization is Genuine

When considering charitable partnerships, ask yourself whether the charitable organization is registered and allowed to carry out the operations you intend to support.

Supporting unregistered organizations or those that engage in unlawful acts could result in hefty fines and even affect your reputation.

2. Align Partnership Plan With Business Strategy

Although you intend to get into philanthropic partnerships, that does not mean you choose any charitable organization.

Choosing one that aligns with your business strategy will help you gain popularity.

3. Find a Purposeful Impact Beyond Giving Back To the Community

A philanthropic partnership is so much more than just a cash drive. In that regard, companies need to consider offering different levels of support so that they have the biggest impact and can truly make a difference.

4. Find Room In the Profit Margins

If you are looking for an impactful way to make a difference in the world, consider building charitable contributions into every fabric of your business model.

However, always adjust the frequency of these contributions as they have a financial impact on your company.

Leave room for profit margins, so that you can run the operations and support the initiatives throughout.

Conclusion

Corporate partnerships increase awareness and brand visibility. However, before signing the agreement conduct due diligence.

Lookout for worthy causes that will give your business a mile in terms of brand awareness and creates room for entering into partnerships.

meet the author

Pat Walls

I'm Pat Walls and I created Starter Story - a website dedicated to helping people start businesses. We interview entrepreneurs from around the world about how they started and grew their businesses.

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