Types of SICU partnerships

A hallmark of corporate and/or brand partnership is that they advance both the mission of SICU and the business purpose of the company or brand. They are mutually beneficial relationships that involve the exchange of something of value from each participant to the other and involve clear responsibilities, shared contributions, and shared risk.

There is no cookie-cutter approach to partnerships between companies and SICU as a Virtual Organization and Strategic Alliance. They can take a variety of forms and each evolves under different circumstances and with different goals. The following discusses some common kinds of collaborations between businesses and SICU.
Please note that these descriptions are fluid, and that what one set of partners calls a "sponsorship" may be called a "cause-related marketing" arrangement in another partnership. Partners should lay the groundwork for success by discussing their own terms from the very beginning of their relationship.

Grant making

In a grantor-grantee partnership a corporation – either through a corporate giving program or through a company -established foundation–makes a philanthropic contribution in support of e.g. a nonprofit organization. This gift enables the organization to continue or expand its work in the public’s behalf. Typically, the company will receive acknowledgement in return for the charitable contribution, which can bolster the company’s brand image. Many corporations practice what is often called strategic philanthropy or corporate social investing, targeting giving towards nonprofit organizations that not only accomplish public purposes but also fulfil business purposes.

Cause Related Marketing

The marketing strategy of linking a company and its products to an issue or cause in order to enhance the corporation's image while benefiting the designated cause or nonprofit organization. Some use the term cause-related marketing (or cause marketing) in a more specific way to mean a transaction-based promotional effort in which the company contributes a percentage of sales from a product to a cause, often short-term in nature.

The term "cause-related marketing" was coined and trademarked by the American Express Company in 1983, when the company announced a marketing program that donated a penny for each use of its charge card and a dollar for each new card issued toward the Statue of Liberty renovation program. Over a four-month period, the company experienced a 28-percent increase in card usage and donated nearly $2 million toward the restoration of the Statue of Liberty.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship is a broad term that covers many kinds of businesses. It can represent relationships from financial to in-kind of operational support. Organizations can create innovative sponsorship opportunities of many different kinds to engage additional corporate partners, reach wider audiences, increase financial support, or build operational and strategic capacity. Many levels and types of sponsorship are often developed to create opportunities at various financial or in-kind contribution levels. For example, a Media Sponsor typically offers publicity support, a Sole Sponsor takes on the entire sponsorship responsibility, and a Title Sponsor is one whose name typically appears within the name of the event or product. The key is to have clearly defined responsibilities, often in a written agreement, and policies that ensure a sponsorship is consistent with the company's and the nonprofit's mission, business strategy and brand.

Certification

An arrangement in which the organization recognizes that a product or service of a company complies with certain established standards. Typically, these certifications are available to any product or service that meets the standards. For example, the American Heart Association food certification program has granted use of its "Heart Check" icon and name by dozens of cereals, juices, and other products that meet its low-fat, low-cholesterol standards.

Licensing

An agreement in which the cause allows its information or knowledge to be used for a fee or an agreement in which a nonprofit's name is attached to a product or service. Typically, a cause licenses a company to develop, produce, market and/or distribute a mission-related product that is promoted either with the organization's brand name or co-branded with both the company's and nonprofit's names. For example, National Charities Information Bureau and CharitableWay.com have struck a partnership whereby NCIB provides its Standards of Philanthropy summaries and reports on national charities as well as information about how to give wisely on a licensed basis to Charitableway.com.

Message Promotion

Message Promotion is an alliance in which a cause or organization works with a company or media outlet to promote a public interest message. For example, the Kaiser Family Foundation has formed "Following ER," a unique partnership with WBAL-TV, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and the NBC television drama ER.

The partners produce an informative 90-second health news segment that further explains the health issue portrayed in the weekly television drama. Through "Following ER," entertainment television is used as the driving force behind a multimedia initiative that links scientific information and community resources to educate and motivate viewers to take action on a series of personal and public health topics.

Employee involvement

This is a broad category of collaborations between companies and causes that harness the valuable network of employee interests, talent, and financial resources to create value for nonprofit organizations. Employee volunteer programs, workplace giving campaigns, employee-driven contributions models, matching gifts, board member training, and other strategies for involving employees in the community fall under this broad category. For example, The Home Depot organizes employee volunteers to help KaBOOM!, a nonprofit organization that works with communities to build safe playgrounds. Through this program, The Home Depot builds strong relationships with communities, teaches employees construction skills, and gives hands-on experience using tools the store carries.

Advocacy

A formal or informal partnership in which organizations and companies work together to alter their operations, promote changes in public policies, support self-regulation, or endorse operating or ethical standards. Sometimes these relationships begin as adversarial ones that evolve into collaborative arrangements. For example, a health care nonprofit organization may attempt to persuade a pharmaceutical company to offer low-cost drugs for low-income people living with HIV/AIDS. In the beginning, the organization may use adversarial tactics to gain the company's attention and to attract media coverage. Eventually, the company and the organization may work more collaboratively together, each influencing the other's mindset and operations, and leading to changes that meet both partners' needs and goals.

The company and the organization, such as the SICU Synergy Solutions Group may then work together to urge other companies to follow their example.

Operations/Social Enterprise

A broad range of activities that improve the company's core business operations, such as building unique supply or distribution channels, by working in partnership with a cause or organization, which also receives something of value in return. For example, Boeing purchases sheet metal supplies from Pioneer Human Services, a nonprofit organization that trains and employs ex-offenders and former substance abusers. Boeing receives top-quality supplies for its planes along with an enhanced corporate community involvement, and Pioneer Human Services harnesses employment opportunities for its workforce and earns revenue from this sustainable social enterprise.

Strategic Alliance

Strategic Alliance is a term to cover a broad range of collaborations in which partners combine their core competencies to accomplish social change and meet business objectives. Strategic alliances are unique in that they tend to be long-term, highly dynamic, multi-faced, and key to the partners' individual success. The partners often develop a shared strategy and rely heavily on each other to meet their business or mission goals.

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