Corporate social engagement
Fundraisers are becoming increasingly professional and sophisticated when it comes to forming partnerships with commercial organisations and also when raising money from them. Corporate donors now are expressing growing interest in what fundraisers have to offer in terms of mutual benefit for their marketing objectives and as they seek to fulfil their obligations in terms of their corporate social responsibility. Is corporate fundraising all it’s cracked up to be? Are companies the best route to the many thousands of potential individual donors that they employ? If so, how should you go about fundraising from the corporate sector and where are the best opportunities?
Lessons from a charity shop
by Laura Croudace
Do you think that charity shops are not ‘pure’ fundraising, in fact, aren’t fundraising at all? During a stroll in the sunshine, Laura Croudace came across a charity shop that, in her words, ‘blew me away’. Click here to see how and why she thinks we could all learn from FARA’s approach to running shops.
Read moreThe UNICEF partnership with the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games
by Joe Jenkins
UNICEF's partnership with the Glasgow Commonwealth Games was the first time the opening ceremony of a global major sporting event was used by a charity to raise money: £3.7 million during that evening alone, much of it by texts from people in the audience.
Read moreDEBRA’s epidermolysis bullosa (EB) Ireland awareness day 2014
by Craig Linton
Click here to see how DEBRA Ireland made their logo work hard for them. By telling a powerful story as well and investing a small budget they raised a lot of money, gained new supporters and raised awareness of their cause.
Read moreUnited Way for Southeast Michigan (UWSEM): lessons from a $27.1 million corporate gift
by Marie Burnett
United Way successfully shifted their fundraising model from transactional to relational and from obligation giving to inspired giving. In the process they turned around a five year trend of decreasing contributions from workforce campaigns with the largest donation to a single project.
Read moreNew research shows how charities can create remarkable corporate partnerships
by Remarkable Partnerships
Remarkable Partnerships, a new report from Jonathon Andrews shows that when charities and companies partner in a remarkable way they deliver huge impact, have wider reach, create more opportunities and last longer. Read SOFII’s summary here. Then get the full report, free.
Read moreOxfam: Marks and Spencer’s ‘schwopping’ partnership
by SOFII
This partnership between Oxfam UK and retailer Marks and Spencer (M&S) fulfilled the needs of people in the UK and developing countries. The planet was a winner too.
Read moreFour tips that can help land corporate donations
by Robert Bellovin
Raising money from commercial organisations is a bit like Marmite – you either love it, or hate it. But you can’t deny it that it does raise money. If you’re thinking about putting a toe in the water – check out this article that is full of advice for practitioners on how to go about it.
Read moreUNICEF UK: ‘own a colour’ appeal
by Jonathan Andrews
This campaign run jointly by UNICEF UK and the paint company Dulux raised £52,000 in the first day. And the company paid all the costs.
Read moreStreetSmart: Helping the homeless as you eat
by SOFII
StreetSmart raises thousands of pounds for homeless charities throughout the UK every year during the months of November and December. The idea is simple: participating restaurants have a card on each table, or a reference on the menu, explaining that a voluntary one pound donation will be added to each table's bill at the end of the meal. StreetSmart then distributes these donations directly to reputable homeless charities throughout the UK.
Read moreAkshaya Patra, India: winners of an international competition to change the world
by SOFII
A prize-winning initiative from India. Akshaya Patra has, quite simply, set up the world's largest school feeding programme, providing more than one million school dinners every school day. This vast undertaking clearly has appeal to corporate donors, for it attracted the attention of American Express when they were running a competition to find projects that have real impact.
Read moreBank4Hope: a new ‘bank’ to enhance transparency and accountability
by SOFII
The founders of Bank4Hope aim to manage and continuously develop this ‘bank’ to support the work of charities in monitoring and fundraising. Their goal is to revolutionise global giving.
Read moreMalaria No More and CollegeHumor: malarious
by SOFII
Malaria No More have discovered that laughter is a great entry point to learning – even about something as deadly as malaria.
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