Add Corporate Giving Income to Your
Organization’s Bottom Line

adapted from FEI's Sustainable pathways training*

Corporate giving donations can be a valuable addition to your organization’s income streams. Unlike grant funds, donations from corporations and businesses can be flexibly applied to your organization’s harder-to-fund needs.

Grants, product and technical assistance contributions, and donations from businesses and corporations are all referred to as corporate giving. “Corporations” refer to large companies with a national or regional presence, such as Ford, Microsoft or Exxon.  “Business” refers to smaller enterprises which may or may not be legally structured as a corporation.
 
Developing long-term relationships with corporate donors can be an excellent source of annual contributions toward an organization’s operating budget. Corporations connect themselves with respected nonprofits, and their support tends to be repeated year after year. Corporation and business donations are often given without restrictions on what they may be used for, so you may use them to cover any expense that benefits your organization. Because of this, you should plan to apply any non-restricted corporate funds to items in your budget that are the most difficult to fund in other ways – a benefit which is often not allowed with government or private grants.

U.S. Corporations Give – A New Exchange Feature

Several years ago we experimented with an Exchange column entitled “Alaska Gives”. Each month, we featured the corporate giving programs of a different sector of the Alaska economy. Alaska reader response was excellent, in part because many corporate giving programs are not included in regular grantmaker databases.

Unfortunately, the research required to complete the column turned out to be quite expensive. So in order to give us adequate time and funds to focus on fully revising our training programs, we reluctantly put the corporate giving column on hold – temporarily.

Now that our “Three-Legged Stool” of training programs is in place (you can read more about them here), we’re ready to refocus on corporate giving programs as a regular feature of the Exchange, beginning with this issue.

U.S. Corporations Give will cover corporate donation programs nationwide, with listings divided into Pacific, Mountain, Central and Eastern regions. The regions will follow the U.S. time zone lines with the exception of Pacific, which will include Alaska and Hawaii in addition to the Pacific time zone.

Each month we’ll list a few corporate giving programs in each region, all focused around a particular segment of the economy. We hope you enjoy this new feature – and if you live and work in one of the regions and would like to volunteer to help us gather corporate giving information in your region, please let us know. We’d welcome your assistance!

So why do corporations give? And how should we begin to tap into this potential funding stream?

Why do Corporations Give?

There are many reasons companies give, including:

• To enhance company reputation and standing in the community
• Improved relations with clients, customers, and employees
• Long-term benefits for the community and the business environment
• Tax deduction
• Because other companies have given

Giving More than Money

Often what your organization needs is cash, but many businesses can‘t afford to write a check. BUT… they can give much more than cash, including:

• Donating products, or selling items at their wholesale price
• Lending equipment, employees, or professional services
• Offering loans at no-interest, or below market interest rates (Program-Related Investments)
• Using corporate offices and/or staff to bring community leaders together to discuss an issue of concern to all (including the business)
• Making a small cash donation and asking other corporations to match their contribution
• Collaborating and partnering with nonprofits
• Analyzing research and fact-finding
• Inventing and testing new approaches and solutions to community problems
• Publicly supporting a position of a nonprofit organization

Developing Corporate Giving Income

To analyze the corporate giving potential for your nonprofit organization, start by looking through your local phone book to find the corporations with sites in your community or region. Businesses often invest generously in the communities where they have a physical presence. These are your strongest potential donors. These smaller companies are also a great resource for in-kind donation.
The other side of that coin, however, is that you will be competing for funds from these companies with many of the other nonprofits in your area.

The most important thing to remember as you plan or update your corporate giving program is to consider the potential relationship with your organization from the corporation’s viewpoint: What is it the business or corporation needs or wants to receive as a result of the partnership? Public exposure? Public credibility or favorable reputation? Improved relationships with clients, customers, or employees? A tax deduction? Most nonprofit organizations ask the same large, well-known corporations for support, placing a tremendous burden on these funders and resulting in a large amount of competition for relatively few dollars.

If your organization already has a connection with one of these large companies then it should continue working with them. However, if you have little or no previous connection with them or if you have never received funding from them, consider targeting other businesses instead. Many businesses will make generous donations to an organization if asked. The gifts may not be as large as with a corporate donor, but the continued annual support will offset that drawback.

Create a Powerful Marketing Packet

Before you approach corporations or businesses for donations, take the time to create a marketing packet. One way to accomplish this is to hire a professional marketing person. If you can‘t afford to hire a professional marketing person, you might make this one of your first in-kind donation requests to a local marketing firm. The packet should:

1) Describe your organization and its work.
2) Tell how your organization serves the community.
3) Include a copy of your annual report and operating budget.
4) Provide a list of contributors, including the size of your membership.
5) Present information on how the business can make a difference.
6) Establish a creative tie to the company you solicit for support.

Staff, volunteers, and board members should use this packet when soliciting corporate support.

After Accepting a Corporate Donation: Policies and Procedures

Policies and procedures should be developed for working with businesses prior to accepting any corporate donations. Following established policies and procedures with help build a positive relationship with businesses and encourage future donations. Office procedures should address these questions:

1) Who is responsible for sending out the initial thank you letter? When is it issued? Do you send a gift with it?
2) How will you keep the business informed about your organization?
3) Do you honor corporate donors at the annual meeting? If so, how? Who is responsible for arranging it?
4) Are corporate donors given special invitations to events and fundraisers? If so, who does the inviting?
5) Will you send holiday cards or birthday cards to the owner or corporate contact?
6) Is someone responsible for clipping information regarding the business from publications, including the Internet? Will you recognize their achievements and other changes with a card or letter?
7) Who is responsible for tracking, and for on-going contact?

Nurture the Corporate Partnership

Making corporate leaders feel personally appreciated, dealing with them fairly and honestly, and providing ample recognition for corporate support will go a long way toward securing continued support. Knowing the corporation’s goals for the relationship will help you build a mutually-beneficial relationship that’s more likely to meet the company’s goals and develop into long-term, repeat giving.

Following these suggestions and taking the time to build positive relationships with local businesses and corporations can pay big dividends in the long run by providing needed funds, products and services for your organization – in addition to giving businesses an opportunity to contribute to your organization and to the community.