“Your poor planning is not my emergency”
A former colleague once had this quote pasted in big letters above her desk. Her calm efficiency made her a magnet for others with the organisational skills of a raccoon on red cordial.
We’re all juggling a million things, each with our own system to keep the plates spinning. But sometimes, someone else’s crisis crashes into your carefully laid plans – and it’s always urgent. Last-minute requests in partnerships can throw you off track and erode the value you’ve worked hard to build.
Here are three common culprits -and how to manage them.
The event sponsorship black hole
Unless it’s a brand new concept, your major events are usually scheduled for the same time each year. But, like Christmas, we’re always surprised how quickly they come around. Cue the desperate scramble for table bookings, auction items and event sponsors – about 9 months too late. These last-minute requests in partnerships usually come from internal teams who realise, far too late, that they need help. The best relationships are not built by asking for sponsorships 6 weeks before the event. Here’s the thing: no corporate partner wants to feel like the B-list wedding guest, filling in for someone who dropped out.
The best time to approach corporates for event partnerships is always the day after the event. You’ve got photos, media, content and testimonials from the event that are fresh and inspiring. Corporates who were involved have a glow of contentment (if you’ve thanked them properly) and they’ll be eagerly sharing the experience with their staff and customers. This is your golden window—before it becomes another last-minute request in partnerships next year.
It’s also a perfect time to reach out to new prospects or ask the existing partners for referrals and recommendations. You can share the momentum, media and insights from the latest event and invite them to share in the next one. It’s a bit like buying Christmas ornaments in the January sales- you think it’s too early but your future self in December will be very thankful.
The last-minute giving day matches
Charity giving days have grown in popularity in the last few years. They create a whole of organisation momentum (and effort) and the opportunity to mobilise all types of donors, partners and supporters at once. Giving days are a powerful way to rally your whole organisation and ignite donor action. Corporate matched giving can turbocharge those efforts—but it needs planning.
Like events, giving day matches often fall victim to last-minute requests in partnerships. Budget cycles, approval processes, and internal politics mean you need to give them plenty of runway. Decision making is slower in the current environment as spending is scrutinised more keenly.
Giving day matches from corporates work best when you leverage existing warm relationships. It’s not an ideal avenue for brand new prospects if you want them to be more than transactional arrangements. It’s much easier to build relationships and schedule a giving day match within the mix. Beware that a last-minute request can result in a corporate partner simply cannibalising what they had already budgeted for the partnership. That’s not a win – it’s just a reallocation.
The department of free stuff
Say it loud and say it often: “partnerships is not the department of free stuff”.
Whilst corporate partnerships bring more value than just cash, it doesn’t mean they are a magic pudding for endless giving. Imagine dating a boyfriend who constantly borrows money, uses your car and monopolises your Netflix account. At some point, you start to wonder if they’re in it for love or just the freebies.
It takes as much effort and partnership goodwill to ask for free stuff as to develop that relationship into something meaningful. Is it really worth compromising a promising partnership for the sake of some free tables you could buy from Bunnings for $50? We were once asked by a program manager to source some free golf umbrellas. Why? The children living in a slum in Bangladesh got wet when they had to travel to school during monsoon season. Wouldn’t it be better to ask for a long-term partnership with a corporate committed to girls’ education than scrounge some umbrellas to keep them dry?
Strong partnerships are built on trust, respect, and long-term value, not on panic-fuelled favours. (We talk a lot about this in our book Partnerships Reimagined, especially the need to shift from reactive asks to proactive strategy.) Every last-minute request in partnerships risks turning your carefully nurtured partner into a transactional donor – or worse, walking away altogether.
Corporate partners aren’t your backup plan or your emergency ATM. They’re strategic allies, investing in your mission because they believe in the impact you can create together. Don’t trade that potential for a quick win. It’s not worth the cost.