business of change
Business of Change
A Resource Guide for Corporate-Nonprofit Collaboration
Authorship
The Business of Change was researched, written and produced by members of the Donor Resources team of the Gill Foundation and the Social Innovation team at Weber Shandwick. Many other people both inside, and outside, our organizations gave instrumental and creative advice. We give special thanks and acknowledgement to the Social Innovation Fellows and Advisory Board members listed on the following pages.
Gill Foundation
Established in 1994, the Gill Foundation’s mission is to secure equal opportunity for all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation or gender expression. In its 15-year existence, the Gill Foundation has become one of the nation’s largest private foundations focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights. During these years, the Foundation has invested more than $162 million to support programs and nonprofit organizations across the country that share its commitment to equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans.
The Foundation works to engage and educate donors to provide the effective, large-scale financial support necessary to achieve equality, and joins with like-minded organizations and individuals to put forward a shared vision for doing so. The Foundation works to broaden the base of LGBT and allied supporters — individual, institutional and corporate — that are knowledgeable about local, state and national LGBT nonprofits and the importance of their work. In pursuit of this goal, the Donor Resources team at the Gill Foundation uses a variety of tactics including hosting signature OutGiving conferences, donor salons and personal funder meetings and encouraging the formation of giving circles.
The Foundation strives to increase support for equality by improving communications with the American people, and by raising awareness of the contributions made by gay men and lesbians to society. Today, as ever, the Gill Foundation remains invested in equality.
Weber Shandwick
Weber Shandwick is a leading global public relations agency with offices in 77 markets around the world. The firm's success is built on its deep commitment to client service, creativity, collaboration and harnessing the power of Advocates — engaging stakeholders in new and creative ways to build brands and reputation. Weber Shandwick provides strategy and execution across practices such as consumer marketing, healthcare, technology, public affairs, corporate/financial and crisis management. Its specialized services include digital/social media, advocacy advertising, market research, and corporate responsibility. Weber Shandwick was recognized as PRWeek's 2009 Global Agency Report Card Gold Medal Winner, named Global Agency of the Year by The Holmes Report and Large PR Firm of the Year by PR News in 2008. The firm also won the United Nations Grand Award for Outstanding Achievement in Public Relations for a lifestyles educational campaign in India.
Social Innovation @ Weber Shandwick is a global specialty group and think tank that delivers exceptional value to clients and partners interested in corporate responsibility, sustainability, strategic philanthropy, cause marketing and advancing social issues. Our mission is to help clients embed and communicate innovative programs and principles across their work, contribute to the public debate on key issues affecting our world and show return on investment. Through an approach known as mob-sourcing — or moso — the team uses a collaborative digital platform to discuss, debate and develop best-in-class ideas for clients via three offerings: Planet 2050, Social Impact and the Greenhouse. Weber Shandwick is part of the Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG).
I helped to start CECP with the belief that corporate America could be a force for good in society.
— Paul Newman, Founding Co-Chair
Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy
The Landscape:
Evolution of Corporate Philanthropy
A CHANGING SOCIAL CONTRACT
The corporate world has always had a contract with society, but the dynamic of that relationship is rapidly changing. As recently as the 1980s, companies believed that by making cash donations to hometown charities, they were administering effective philanthropy that would help fulfill their social contracts. Today, society’s expectations have changed dramatically.
Consumers now have more ability to put pressure on companies to contribute to the public good. Shareholders are exerting pressure to increase companies’ social investment. And the news media, employees, community activists and nonprofit organizations are all increasing attention on what companies give and how they give it. All of these groups can influence, and may even redefine, the social contract and what it means to a company to fulfill or exceed it.
- –67% of US consumers continue to believe “it is important to purchase products with social and environmental benefits.”
- –51% say they are “willing to pay more” for those kinds of products.
“Fifteen years ago, responsible shareholders knocked on the doors of corporate America and asked companies to add no discrimination on sexual orientation to their human resources policies,” says Timothy Smith, senior vice president of Boston-based Walden Asset Management and chair of the board of the Social Investment Forum. “Today, 99 of the Fortune 100 companies have included this in their policies.”
I think the science and practice of community-corporate partnerships deserves more study and attention in hopes of truly capitalizing on the unique skills and expertise these sectors have to offer one another and our communities.
— Nonprofit respondent to the 2009 Business of Change Survey
Surveying the Field:
2009 Business of Change Survey Results
The 2009 Business of Change Survey asked nonprofit and corporate professionals working toward advancing LGBT equality and other social issues for their best ideas and advice to foster relationships between corporations and nonprofits. Questions in the survey were developed to understand better the challenges that nonprofit organizations face when trying to raise money or awareness, build strategic partnerships, or develop their own capacities to navigate the complex corporate philanthropy landscape.
The 2009 Business of Change Survey was conducted as two separate, but inter- related questionnaires, one designed for people working in nonprofits and one designed for employees of corporations. Thus, Chapter 2: Surveying the Field is divided into two sections: The Nonprofit Survey Results and Analysis and The Corporate Survey Results and Analysis. Each section outlines the survey methodology and gives top-line analysis for some of our findings. In particular, we’ve included a series of sections called “Behind the Numbers” to share insights and observations on key survey findings.
Nonprofits wanting to work with companies should consider how their partnership helps the company create a better, safer, more equitable work environment for all people.
A Guiding Glossary:
Terms from the Landscape
As the landscape of corporate philanthropy evolves, so too does the terminology used to describe and define it. Changing corporate structures and “org charts,” unusual department names, and rapidly emerging disciplines all complicate the landscape and make it difficult to navigate. Chapter 3: A Guiding Glossary highlights some of the more important terms to help nonprofit professionals, as well as corporate employees themselves, find resources, develop relationships and create effective partnerships.
This year, an estimated 10,000 Baby Boomers will turn 62 — each day. And in the next 10 years, 43 percent of the working population will become eligible to retire. Furthermore, research conducted by Deloitte indicates that there will be fewer young people to replace retiring workers every year for the next 30 years. With such staggering labor shortages projected well into the future, businesses simply cannot afford to neglect the individuals of any demographic group as employees or as candidates for future leadership.
— Sharon Allen, Chairman of the Board, Deloitte, LLP
Keynote Speech at Out & Equal Workplace Summit, October 2009
Rating Equality:
Organizations and Indices
LGBT nonprofits and corporate partners can offer each other mutually beneficial resources. Among them is talent recruitment and retention. Supporting, partnering with, and otherwise engaging LGBT nonprofits enhances a company’s placement on several indices for diversity and inclusion, corporate citizenship and social responsibility, and innovation. Chapter 4: Rating Equality: Organizations and Indices offers background information on a few notable organizations that evaluate, rate, support or promote companies advancing LGBT equality in their work or workplace. Nonprofits should consider how the resources, surveys, statistics and studies from these organizations can be incorporated into proposals or partnerships with a company. Corporate readers should find some of this information useful as a benchmarking tool when evaluating their own companies and LGBT initiatives.
Recent trends in corporate philanthropy have ushered in a new approach to giving, one that seeks greater collaboration among all stakeholders, taps into the tremendous desire of employees to participate through their volunteerism, and more fully leverages tools available to businesses to maximize the impact of community investment.
— Harold McGraw III
Chairman, President, and CEO
The McGraw-Hill Companies
CECP Chairman
Effective Partnerships:
110 Questions to Consider
There is no single question (or answer) that provides the right direction for every presentation, proposal or partnership that a nonprofit develops for a company. But there are dozens of questions for nonprofits to consider before meeting with a potential partner that might give good ideas on how to access corporate resources and build long-term relationships.
Chapter 5: Effective Partnerships: 110 Questions to Consider asks some of the more important questions to consider before approaching a potential company as a partner on LGBT equality. While these questions are primarily focused for those working at nonprofits, we believe corporate readers of this guide can also learn from them when considering how to build a business case internally for support of a nonprofit. The CECP website also offers a great resource for those working within corporations, “Giving Officer Quick Tips”, which is located in the Resource section of the website www.corporatephilanthropy.org.
Today, the value of corporate involvement lies as much in expertise as it does in monetary support.
— Bill Gates
Wall Street Journal Asia, 2008
Case Studies:
Profiles in Corporate-Nonprofit Partnerships
As noted throughout this guide, corporate philanthropy is rapidly changing and there is a new way of doing business. It requires corporations and nonprofits to engage in open and honest dialogue to shape partnerships where a company’s philanthropy is reflective of the core values that guide their business; where the nonprofit is viewed as an equal partner and remains true to its mission; where expectations and deliverables are negotiated upfront; where the company includes previously untapped non-cash resources to maximize its investment; and where the nonprofit helps the company deliver on its corporate goals. Chapter 6: Case Studies: Profiles in Corporate-Nonprofit Collaboration features 10 case studies that embody the spirit of the Business of Change. Some are examples of relationships that have evolved beyond the typical sponsorship model into richer, more meaningful partnerships. Others illustrate the value of leveraging pro bono resources, the importance of engaging a broad range of stakeholders, or the power of one individual to catalyze a new corporate program. One thing is clear — all of the companies and nonprofits took the time to work together to shape partnerships that would be mutually beneficial and sustainable. These innovative partnerships demonstrate real impact and will hopefully serve as an inspiration for your own work.
Bibliography
Businesses Buckle Up. Noelle Barton and Ian Wilhelm. Chronicle of Philanthropy, July 2009.
Business’s Social Contract: Capturing the Corporate Philanthropy Opportunity. McKinsey & Co. at CECP. 2008.
CECP Board of Boards CEO Conference Executive Report. CECP. 2009.
CECP Board of Boards, The CEO’s Challenge: Leading the Company Shaping Society, February, 2008
CECP website: corporatephilanthropy.org
Challenges in Multiple Cross-Sector Partnerships. Kathy Babiak, Lucie Thibault. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. February 2009.
Concepts and Definitions of CSR and Corporate Sustainability: Between Agency and Communion. Marcel Van Marrewijk. Journal of Business Ethics. 2003.
Conscious Consumer Report, BBMG, 2009.
Corporate Giving is Moving into a New Age. LBG Research Institute. 2009.
For more information or to obtain a copy of the guide, please contact Justin Tanis at jtanis@outandequal.org