Corporate Volunteer Partnerships: The Engine for Long-term Growth

Transcription

1 Corporate Volunteer Partnerships: The Engine for Long-term Growth 6/27/06 1

2 AGENDA Getting on the same page about partnerships Exploring the new relationship building cycle Identifying and qualifying potential partners BREAK Listening to customize the ask Customizing the proposal materials Delivering on the promise Expanding the relationship each year Critical success factors for growth and sustainability 2

3 Benefits of Corporate Partnerships Program Benefits Wholesale recruitment Add Bigs in bulk numbers Strategic growth of school-based program Build relationships with new schools & meet needs at existing schools Streamlined enrollment & matching process Collecting applications, performing interviews and making matches on site increases program efficiency Enhanced match support potential Giving Bigs the opportunity to connect and share experiences offers a easy way to strengthen the traditional support model Improved match length Initial data indicates corporate volunteers have a higher than average match length than other site-based matches (JOYCE This a hypothesis, but I bet it s true. Could we validate by asking a few of the large & successful grantee agencies to run the numbers?) Fund Development Benefits Build relationships to cultivate giving Corporate volunteer partnerships can open the door to match sponsorships ($1,000 for each employee that volunteers), foundation funds and other direct gifts. Mine individual donors Corporate leaders and volunteers engaged in your mission are strong prospects for individual donor cultivation. Generate event sponsorships Whether its Bowl for Kids Sake or your annual golf tournament, corporate partners who are passionate about our cause are more likely to participate in special events. Get gifts- and services-in-kind Corporate volunteer partners can be outstanding resources for gifts-in-kind like printing, match party supplies, auction items and more. Many corporate partners are also open to sharing expertise like strategic planning, staff development, graphic design and more. Reputation Building Benefits Board development Connect with talented corporate decision makers looking for non-profit leadership opportunities Improve public relations presence Corporate partners have an established forum for sharing good news explore external newsletters, joint press releases, corporate Web sites, foundation reports, etc. to maximize combined public relations potential Leadership recognition Corporate leaders talk to other corporate leaders. Connect with the right people to open doors to additional volunteer partnerships, civic recognition, other funding sources and much more. 3

4 The New Relationship Building Cycle Say thank you, provide Excellent service Steward the relationship Acquire supporters to BBBS Prepare to ask for the partnership and the Bigs Identify the critical few Engage and involve Create and share the BBBS story Develop a relationship 4

5 Generating Leads Determine where agency stakeholders (board and staff) already have a connection. Do any of your board or staff members already have a relationship with one or more companies in your community? In a meeting with your board and staff, ask this question and use the format below to list the company name, board or staff member, and a description of the relationship. The relationship may be an association with a current employee, past employment, serving as a vendor, having a business relationship, etc. Company: Board/Staff Member: Description of relationship: Company: Board/Staff Member: Description of relationship: Company: Board/Staff Member: Description of relationship: Company: Board/Staff Member: Description of relationship: (Duplicate as Needed) 5

6 Conduct an analysis of your present and past donors to determine where a relationship with a company may exist. Create matrices of partner support. The description should include the employer s name, number of volunteers and the amount of donated funds for each of the past five years. The purpose of this exercise is to raise the question of whether past corporate donors could well serve as major sources of volunteers. This exercise also can lead to discussions of how to increase levels of giving as well as how to broaden the partnership with the company in different ways. Name Year Number of Volunteers Donated Funds Name Year Number of Volunteers Donated Funds Name Year Number of Volunteers Donated Funds (Duplicate as Needed) 6

7 List your major individual donors, the amount of his or her most recent gift, and describe the donor s relationship with corporations, which may be a source of mentors. Donor Name: Amount of most recent gift: Description of the donor s relationship with a corporation: Donor Name: Amount of most recent gift: Description of the donor s relationship with a corporation: Donor Name: Amount of most recent gift: Description of the donor s relationship with a corporation: Donor Name: Amount of most recent gift: Description of the donor s relationship with a corporation: Donor Name: Amount of most recent gift: Description of the donor s relationship with a corporation: (Duplicate as Needed) 7

8 Create a list of local companies that already have a critical mass of Big Brothers and Big Sisters. If you use the AIM system, run a Participant Detail report of Bigs by employer. Review the list every six months. Employer Number of Bigs (Duplicate as Needed) 8

9 Do you have contacts with any of our national partners? See Agency Connection for more partners. National Partners Local Office or Branch? Alpha Phi Alpha Service Clubs Kiwanis, Rotary, Lions, Optimists Holiday Inn Arby s Yahoo.com Verizon Jack in the Box Allstate Insurance Proctor & Gamble Rent-A-Center American Eagle Outfitters Do it Best United Methodist Men Mercedes-Benz (Duplicate as Needed) 9

10 Mass Bay Qualifying Tool I. Qualification Elements, Values, Points This chart outlines the characteristics used in evaluating corporate partner prospects. It is to used as a way to assign a qualification score for prioritizing sales efforts applied to each prospect. Weighting Qual Elements Qual Value Qual Points 30% Location Need Area Boston Metro Other 25% Size of Company Employees Employees Employees 20% Big Brother Onsite Yes No 15% Public Support of Yes Volunteerism No 10% Industry Predominately Male Neutral Other II. Qualification Levels The qualification levels represent the totaling of points for a prospect based on the weighting system outlined above. The subsequent Qual Level is the ranking of the prospect with P0 being the highest level prospect requiring the highest priority and most sales effort and P5 being the lowest level of prospect. Total Points Qual Level 100 P P P P P4 < 15 P5 10

11 III. END-USER QUALIFICATION MODEL: Sales Process Mapping The mapping of the Sales Process to the Qualification Model allows us to see at what qualification level a prospect should be at any point in the Sales Process. As you move forward in the Sales Process the steps become more resource intensive. Therefore it is important to make sure the most time and effort is spent only on those prospects that have qualified to an appropriate level. Step Step Description Qual Level I SUSPECTS P0 P5 II PROSPECTS P0 P5 III IN PROCESS P0 P4 IV DECISION MAKER P0 P3 V DECISION DUE P0 P3 VI PENDING AGREEMENT P0 P3 VII WIN P0 VIII LOSS NA 11

12 Date: Name of Staff Person: Name of Company: Ratings: Capacity Inclination Discovery Analysis for Partnerships Answers to The Rights (so far) Right amount of volunteers or money Right program or giving purpose Right engagement Right case for support Right influencers and solicitors Right decision makers Right time Right place Right supporting materials 1. List all connections with BBBS Mission, vision, values alignment Person of influence known to BBBS Past donor, partner Other (specify) 2. Organizational Need and Motivation What problems do they have to solve? What benefits are they seeking? What motivates their community giving and/or involvement? What are their expectations of non-for-profit partners? How do our services help? (That is, why would it be worth their time to work with us? For example, a college might want to repair their image as a party school in the community. A company might be experiencing a lot of absenteeism; organizations have better attendance on mentoring day.) 12

13 3. Decision Making and Makers Who makes the decisions concerning community involvement and giving? How are decisions made? What is the timing on decision-making? 4. Cultural Considerations What will be important for a partnership? (For example, maybe they only want white-collar workers to volunteer or people at certain sites.) How do they like involving their employees or students or members? 5. Engagement Opportunities What program options might appeal to this group? (Brainstorm a list and then narrow to at least three) What engagement opportunities do you have scheduled or are planning that might appeal to them? What, if any, could you add to meet their stated needs? 6. Benefits, Outcomes and Alignment How will you convey to them how a partnership will benefit them? What does BBBS have to offer them that they can't get anywhere else? How will a partnership benefit BBBS? What community results will come about with the help of this partnership? Why might that be important to the potential partner; how does it dovetail with their goals and mission? How will a partnership benefit the children / clients? 7. Strategy, Recognition and Stewardship What is your strategy for engaging this potential partner prior to solicitation? What does the potential partner desire in terms of recognition? How will you publicize and recognize the partner s contributions? How will you maintain visibility, an "in" with this organization? How will communicate on-going impact and happenings? 8. What Ifs What does your organization need to be prepared for? What might go wrong? What questions might be asked? How will you handle it? 9. Other What other factors should be considered? 13

14 Responding to the Prospect s Need in your Plan / Proposal A case example Prospect: Company in Columbus, Ohio with multiple locations throughout the city Connections: CEO is connected to agency CEO, has provided monetary support in the past and told the CEO his company would be willing to provide volunteers for a School Based program. He directed BBBS to meet with his community relations person to set it up. Community Relations person had no prior connection and seem blindsided by the concept / meeting. Organizational Need: CEO is interested in supporting BBBS Concerns expressed in initial meeting: The Community Relations liaison was worried that this would take a lot of her time. She didn t know if employees would embrace it. Didn t know how to make time for the employees to do it. She really didn t know that much about the program or the organization. 14

15 Opportunities to Deepen Corporate Relationships Mentoring Bigs Providing an activity for Bigs and Littles Hosting an activity for Bigs and Littles Participating in a donor satisfaction survey Participating in a marketing focus group Hosting a thank-you-thon Participating in a thank-you-thon Providing advice Providing expertise Civic presentations on importance of mentoring Serving on the Board Serving on an Advisory committee (but not a Board member) Being featured in the newsletter Hosting a BBBS volunteer day BFKS Participating Organizing Providing stewardship Raising More Money (Given that we re no longer working with RMM, should this be changed to individual giving or some more general tag?)_ Participating Hosting Providing Stewardship Vision Meetings Participating Hosting Providing follow-up Providing stewardship One-on-one vision and mentoring discussions with CEO, Chair of the Board Mentoring and other think tank meetings Participating Hosting Providing follow-up Providing stewardship Engaging and soliciting individual donors and/or partners Providing stewardship to donors and/or partners Recruiting schools and organizations Screening potential donors and/or partners Hosting Participating 15

16 Critical Success Factors for Partnerships Additional Resources Fund Development Toolkit - online in the Agency Connection, has information and other tools that may be applicable to partnership building Partnership Tools online in the Agency Connection, will be expanded over the next year. 16