Charities Rely Heavily On Who They Know More Than What They Know When Approaching Businesses For Support

Personal contacts are key to setting up business community partnerships, according to new research published today by Business Community Connections, in association with MORI. The research report - Business Community Partnerships: Fact or Fiction? - looks for the first time at the development of these partnerships from the charity perspective. The research was supported by KPMG and Crimson Publishing.

Personnel involved in developing business support for 120 charities were interviewed as part of the research. Over 80% of them used their own personal contacts when selecting potential business partners, and 1 in 4 highlighted this as the single most important selection criteria when deciding which businesses to approach. Interestingly most of them were not using other contacts from their colleagues or trustees as much, or finding them as effective.

Other key findings included that 6 in 10 charities are actively approaching businesses for support, but they are mostly receiving one-off donations and sponsorship, rather than building longer-term partnerships. There is a roughly equal split between charities finding success with larger companies, and those working with smaller companies, reflecting the huge scope for developing partnerships with smaller companies, which are the vast majority of businesses in the UK. 7 in 10 charities forecast an increase in their level of business involvement in the coming year.

When approaching companies, mass mailshots and cold calling were the least successful methods, whilst contacting a known person and face-to-face meetings proved most successful. It was perhaps surprising therefore that 38% of charities interviewed were still using mailshots to enlist business support.

Charlotte Hines, Head of Social Responsibility research at MORI welcomed the report: "The research provides much needed information on current practice in establishing relationships between charities and business, and has shown that there remains tremendous scope to develop more effective and longer-term partnerships with benefits to both charities and businesses."

Building on the research, BCConnections have also published in the report a set of recommendations for selecting, approaching and securing support from business. Whilst developing a network of personal contacts, including building on the contacts of others involved in the charity, remains a key part of the process, BCConnections also identifies the need for charities to identify companies that are a 'good fit' with the charity and its needs for business support.

Sue Lester, Chief Executive of BCConnections explains: "Where there is a geographical fit, a link between the charitable cause and the business operations, a link between the charity beneficiaries and the target audience of the business, or where the charity need fits within the community support policy of the business, there are much more likely to be business benefits which will sway the business to support that charity rather than other worthy but less relevant causes."

Technical details

1. Business Community Connections is a not-for-profit organisation, currently applying for charitable status, which provides services to charities to help them get more support from businesses.
2. To see a summary of the research report visit the BCConnections website: - www.bcconnections.org.uk. For a copy of the full report (other than press copies) use the e-mail ordering form on the website or contact BCConnections at:
   14 Northfields London SW18 1UU t: 020-8875 5700 f: 020-8875 5701 e: [email protected]
3. Costs of the report:
   • Charities: first copy free of charge, additional copies 16310 (incl P&P)
   • Other organisations: 16325 (incl. P&P)
4. Research methodology: (fieldwork carried out Dec 2000 - Jan 2001)
   • 26 in-depth interviews with charities and businesses
   • interviews with key opinion formers
   • 120 interviews among charity personnel involved in developing business support (sample drawn from the UK National Charities Database of the top 7,750 charities by annual income)
5. The research was supported by KPMG's Community Broking Service, and by Crimson Publishing Ltd, who designed and managed the printing of the report.