233. What Matters Right Now: Corporate Partnerships 2.0 - Jonathan McCoy, CFRE, Becky Endicott, CFRE and Susan McPherson
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2022 Nonprofit Trends That Matter
This episode is part of our 2022 Nonprofit Trends That Matter Series. Explore the entire series here.
Overview
Is it our birthday or something?!🥳🤩 Join this week's 8️⃣ Trends That Matter in 2022 as we dive into Corporate Partnerships 2.0 with Susan McPherson, our queen of connection, corporate social responsibility expert and our self-appointed godmother. Time to level-up and enrich our partnerships while sunsetting the one-dimensional sponsorship mentality.
💡LEARN
-What evolved corporate partnerships look like today
-What corporations bring to the table besides $$
-How to begin co-building with companies
-What nonprofits have to offer today & how to seize this moment
“Right now, for nonprofits, if you’re not out there talking to people in the private sector, or doing research where your particular skill set and business acumen can be helpful, you need to start doing it. Companies are looking for those types of partnerships now in much greater way than they ever were before.”
Episode Transcript
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Episode Overview
Tone setting - Partnerships 2.0 (2:00)
Reimagined partnerships are based on values and alignment (4:00)
The ethos behind partnerships 2.0 (7:00)
The current state of the sector and the present opportunities (8:15)
Where nonprofits can start today to begin building these partnerships (11:00)
Case study: UNHCR (17:00)
Leadership and navigating difficult social issues with integrity and humility (18:00)
The McPherson Memo (18:00)
Building hybrid partnerships (23:00)
Advice when reaching out to new organizations (26:00)
Susan’s One Good Thing: There are going to be so many new and better opportunities going forward. (27:00)
Powerful quotes
“Reimagined corporate partnerships are based on alignment, they are based on values, they're based on co-building. I want everybody while we're in the mindset conversation of this to understand that you are bringing value to the table, and that you have something that this corporation needs.” -Becky
“Value is such a real strong word for this conversation, because it's really this awakening that's happening on the for profit side, you have the biggest of companies, corporations, that are realized in the last few years with the rise of conscious consumerism, and all that's happening on the impact social impact side of things, that purpose really does matter.” -Jon
“This is something that we talk about quite a bit on the podcast. It’s about reimagining how we approach corporate donors in our organization.” -Jon
“I’m going back in my head to my imposter syndrome days as a fundraiser. I remember that gut feeling when I would go pitch to a new corporate partner. There’s something that doesn’t feel good about just passing a proposal across the table.” -Becky
“More organizations feel their power and understand their value. The future is here.” -Jon
“This is really about the power of mobilizing a workforce.” -Becky
“This pandemic has been obviously devastating for many nonprofits. But at the same token, it has reminded us all why the nonprofit sector exists.” -Susan
“On the most part giving has been up in the last two years. Partly as the astronomical rise of the stock market and the rise of the super wealthy but John Q. Public has been giving more.” -Susan
“It may be because we are much more attuned with challenges that we see in our local communities, turning on TV via social media, all the ways we you know, ingests news and information. So I think it's actually a really good time for nonprofits.” -Susan
“Right now, for nonprofits, if you're not out there talking to people in the private sector, if you're not out there doing research where your particular skill set and business acumen can be helpful, you need to start doing it because companies are looking for those types of partnerships now in much greater way than they ever were before.” -Susan
“Flip the switch, and start thinking about all the benefits, whether it's the knowledge that you bring, whether it's the connections you have, whether it's actual programs or services you're doing on the ground in a particular area that a company is looking to add to their sales channel. So really be focusing on what it is that you bring to the table.” -Susan
“Think of your organization as the service, as the implementation partner, as the brains behind what the work is going to do.” -Susan
“I want to kind of flip the switch here and say, nonprofits have to be very careful about the corporations they want to partner with.” -Susan
“I also never expect other companies to do more than what I'm willing to step up and do.” -Susan
“I can't hold a company accountable for something that I'm also contributing to.” -Susan
“I feel the push and pull of these social issues and what they make us feel and what they make us think about and where we want to put our energies.” -Becky
“The beautiful thing is, we live in a much more transparent world. You can find out who the decision makers are, you can follow them on various social media platforms, you can find what I always like to say is the commonality and the un-commonality, you can find something.” -Susan
“Find out who are the warm ways you have into the organization. If you do have connections to somebody, don't sit there and be like, Oh, I don't want to ask them, they're busy. Ask them, just ask them. They could say no, but if you don't ask them, guess what, you're never gonna get anywhere.” -Susan
“There are going to be so many new and better opportunities going forward. I think companies now, because of the last few years of this experience, are so much better suited to partner with nonprofits.” -Susan
“I do think that there's an elevation of the importance of what the nonprofit sector brings to the private sector that maybe didn't exist before the pandemic.” -Susan
Questions to ask today 👇
What is your organization’s superpower?
What is it that you offer?
What Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) at companies do you connect and align with?
Are you listed within companies’ databases for their employee matching programs?
What is it that you need?
What do the beneficiaries of your organization need? (Everyone needs more things besides money!)
CONNECT WITH susan and mcpherson strategies
LinkedIn / Twitter / Website / Job Openings / Susan’s Book: The Lost Art of Connecting / The McPherson Memo
Connect with Jon
Connect with Becky
Episode Sponsored by
Studio Selfie
Julie Confer + Becky Endicott and Dixie, Jonathan McCoy, Susan McPherson & Phoebe
