Attract Corporate Funders Using Values & Benefits

Welcome back! No matter where you're joining from, we’re glad you’re here. Feel free to drop a comment below so we can connect and support you on your nonprofit journey. Today, we’ll explore how to identify and create value within your organization that can attract corporate funders.

Over the past week, we've covered the basics of securing corporate cash flow and what it means for your nonprofit. Now, we’ll focus on how to identify the values and benefits you can offer to corporate funders. As we’ve discussed, corporate funding is fundamentally a value exchange. While you’re asking for money or resources, you should also be prepared to offer something of value in return. Corporations, after all, have clear business objectives they need to meet.

Unlike nonprofits, which focus on creating social impact, businesses prioritize growth and profitability. So, to attract corporate funders, it’s essential to align your nonprofit's values with their goals. Today, we’ll dive into how you can identify and present those values to corporate sponsors in a way that makes your nonprofit irresistible.

Understanding Corporate Goals To begin, let’s think strategically. What are the core goals of businesses? Although brands have unique objectives, most share four key aspirations:

Increase market share: Every business wants to expand its customer base. Boost profits: Maximizing revenue is a universal goal. Build brand loyalty: Corporations want to be top-of-mind for their customers. Engage and retain employees: Keeping their workforce satisfied is crucial for long-term success. If the values and benefits your nonprofit offers do not align with these goals, it’s unlikely that businesses will fund your organization. Corporations want to see a return on their investment, even in philanthropic endeavors. However, businesses have increasingly realized that supporting nonprofits can help them achieve their objectives. By investing in community programs, they can grow their market share and brand loyalty.

Identifying and Creating Value Your first task is to assess your nonprofit’s internal programs, activities, and resources to identify the value you can offer. Think of opportunities within your organization that could help businesses reach their goals.

Programs: What programs or initiatives can be leveraged to benefit the corporations you're targeting? For example, if your organization serves a large number of people, that audience may align with the demographic a corporation wants to reach. Location: Where are you based? Could your nonprofit’s presence in a specific region provide companies with a chance to expand their market? Mission: Does your mission align with the social responsibility goals of potential corporate sponsors? Many companies seek to support causes that align with their brand values. Events: Could you offer companies exposure through your nonprofit’s events? Sponsoring events is a great way for businesses to connect with their target audience. People: Consider the network of people your nonprofit reaches—volunteers, beneficiaries, staff, and community partners. How might these individuals or groups provide value to corporations? Once you’ve identified these opportunities, package them into a compelling offer. This offer must clearly demonstrate how supporting your nonprofit helps the company achieve its objectives.

Example of Creating Value Let’s consider a specific example. Imagine a corporation like Amazon has a goal of reaching one million people in Atlanta. If your nonprofit reaches two million people annually through virtual and physical programs, you can position your organization as a vehicle to help them achieve their target. By presenting this opportunity—along with the potential for Amazon to support your program in return—you make your organization an attractive partner. Even if your nonprofit doesn’t directly give them the one million new customers they seek, the exposure and alignment with your audience could significantly enhance their brand's reach.

Building Strategic Partnerships Many corporations actively seek nonprofit partners that can help them meet their goals. They are always looking for organizations with strong community ties and wide reach. Your job is to position your nonprofit as that perfect partner. Look into your organization and identify where the value lies. In some cases, you may need to create or refine certain aspects of your programs to align better with corporate objectives. Even if the value isn’t immediately obvious, it can often be developed into something that corporations cannot resist.

For instance, one nonprofit we worked with focused on helping homeless individuals. Initially, they had three volunteers carrying out their outreach. To attract corporate sponsors, we increased the number of volunteers to 20 and branded the volunteer materials with the sponsor’s logo. This created an opportunity for the sponsor to gain visibility while supporting a cause aligned with their social responsibility goals.

By increasing the scale of the program and adding branded exposure, we created additional value that was attractive to corporate sponsors. This type of creative thinking can go a long way in securing corporate partnerships.

Final Thoughts To attract corporate funders, you must align your nonprofit’s values with the business objectives of the companies you’re targeting. Every corporation wants to increase market share, boost profits, strengthen brand loyalty, and keep employees engaged. Your role is to identify how your nonprofit can help them achieve these goals.

Once you’ve identified the value your nonprofit can offer, present it clearly to the decision-makers. When corporate executives see the value in partnering with your organization, they’ll be eager to support you.

Tomorrow, we’ll discuss how to define your nonprofit’s fundraising goals and how to attach those goals to real, tangible value that attracts corporate funders. Stay tuned!

Until next time!