More than just giving: How to bring corporates and NFPs together to partner for impact
The impact opportunity fo corporate giving in Australia
The most recent estimate of the size of corporate philanthropy in Australia totalled over $17.5 billion in 2015-16. This is around 40 per cent more than the $12.5 billion given to charities and not-for-profit organisations by individuals (almost 15 million of them) in the same year.
Clearly, the notion of corporate giving and corporate social responsibility (CSR) has come some way.
Concerns still exist around how businesses can contribute to achieving positive social outcomes without easing the expectation of governments to adequately fund health and social services. There’s also the debate about what is genuinely altruistic and what is ‘woke washing’. But generally, it is accepted that the increasing scale of corporate giving in Australia presents a big opportunity to tackle complex social issues.
This isn’t an article about the virtues or otherwise of CSR or corporate philanthropy. An increasing number of executives report that they think it’s a strategic business priority, and we know that the current level of corporate investment in social capital in Australia is huge!
There continues to be plenty of discussion about the best vehicle for corporate philanthropy, with plenty of attention given to comparing impact investment with more traditional forms of giving. We’ll leave that to one side for now.
What we feel is worth adding to the conversation is how to bring together business leaders and, charity and non-profit sector leaders (especially those organisations who do great work but aren’t savvy fund-seekers) to find shared goals and work as partners to make change happen.
How to make it happen
A recent conversation we had with one senior leader working in CSR in a large national company used the analogy of a cab rank—where organisations looking to invest in social impact need a line of implementation-ready ideas (the cabs) ready to meet the expectations of corporate funders to achieve their mission (the passenger).
Deloitte’s 2018 Annual Review of the State of Corporate Social Responsibility in Australia and New Zealand found that businesses with long-standing CSR staff and teams generate better outcomes than those organisations where CSR is a new or recent thing.
Why is that?
Is it because they’ve had time to build strong relationships with partners and work up good ideas (i.e. more cabs)?
Is it because they’ve had time to define their purpose, mission and strategy, and set their expectations for prospective partnerships (i.e. faster routes)?
It’s both! The ‘cab rank’ approach means taking a longer-term view and being an active investor—creating partnerships, exploring options, testing models, setting expectations, investing in solid prospects and monitoring performance.
For those working in CSR or philanthropic roles within charities and non-profit organisations, here’s a quick list of the do's and dont’s to help you get more impact from your investment:
Do work internally and externally to define your mission
Don’t stray from your mission and try to solve all problems
Do build a pipeline of organisations and ideas you can invest in through strong partnerships with community organisations
Don’t expect that good ideas will appear from nowhere
Do invest in a smaller number of more impactful initiatives
Don’t think that CSR is just donations, staff volunteering days and charity fun runs
Do ensure that your community partners are clear about your expectations to measure outcomes and meet impact targets
Don’t neglect your role in building the capability of your community partners in service design, stakeholder engagement, practice support, evaluation and communications.