PLANNING FOR 2008:

Partnerships versus contributions -- What’s the difference?

If you are already starting to think about your plans for 2008, knowing the difference between a contributions and a partnership can greatly impact the type of investment – monetary or otherwise – you get from corporate partners.

If you’re clear in knowing what you really want and there is alignment with the company, you’ll often be more successful at getting it, says Molly Cartmill, Sempra Energy’s director of Corporate Community Partnerships.

Let’s start with the basic definition of each. A contribution is defined as a payment, a donation or a gift. A partnership, on the other hand, is defined as an affiliation, an alliance, a relationship or a collaboration — a much different thing altogether.

As you think about the nonprofit organization(s) where you work or volunteer, which do you want from companies? A contribution or a partnership? There are pros and cons to each, and your answer might vary dependent upon your objective at any given time.

If your objective is to obtain a corporate contribution, you would typically ask a company for money to support a specific fundraising event, program, service, facility or operating costs. You would outline the need for such support, describe the people who would be helped, and offer up the ways that you would recognize the company at various levels of support. To a company, this is a fairly typical contributions request. We get thousands of them every year. It typically represents more of a passive investment in your organization.

If your objective is to engage in a partnership with a company, you would look at that company quite differently. You might ask yourself what your organization has in common with the company you plan to approach:

1. Does the company have an office or facility near where you provide services?
2. Do you serve the same customers as the company on some level?
3. Do you share similar values with the company?
4. Does your organization align on some level with a company?
5. Are their ways you can support a company’s objectives, while they support you on yours?
6. Can you think of mutually beneficial ways in which you might work together all of the time toward a commonly agreed-upon end result?

If your answer is “yes,” to any of these questions, you may want to think about approaching that company with a community partnership request. It would represent a much more interactive, relationship-oriented investment in your organization. If successful, you would end up working together for a common end result that you both agree is important, like a specific infrastructure issue, or economic development in a specific community, or safety education, or improved math, science or literacy skills.

You can find the parallels by studying a company’s website and learning about their business: What do they sell? Who are their customers? Where do they do business? What are their values? What are their contributions guidelines? You’d be surprised how many nonprofit organizations ask for money from everyone just because they have a good cause that they think business should support. While they may not be wrong in this approach, it’s just not strategic or sustainable over the long term.

Most of all, you can increase your odds in getting a grant if you go through the discipline of studying your target. When a nonprofit does this, it doesn’t go unnoticed! So — do you want a contribution or a partnership? Think it through and act accordingly. There’s a place for each.