Everyone notices the big-name charity brands with their big brand partnerships and wants what they’re having. But you may be missing a heap of value in local partnerships with corporates. Imagine your local neighbourhood without the café that knows how you like your coffee extra hot. Or the hairdresser who knows a bob cut will make you look like Dora the Explorer, not a chic French actress. They enrich our lives more than a trip to Starbucks or Woolworths, where you’re just a speck on their conveyor belt of profit.
Local partnerships with corporates may be the best fit for your nonprofit, especially if you’re smaller sized or located in one state only. Big corporates look for local partnership opportunities too, not just SME businesses. The latest Edelman Trust Barometer research showed that trust has gone local, with people distrusting big institutions and putting their faith in family, friends, colleagues and their employer. Corporates want to capitalise on that trust in areas where they operate or where they’re targeting expansion.
What’s the untapped value of local partnerships?
Shared footprint
Local partnerships tap into the urge for customers and staff to give where they live. When TAC, VicSuper and Worksafe moved their headquarters from Melbourne CBD to the satellite city of Geelong, they were keen to demonstrate their support of local community groups. They chose to partner with Geelong Arts Centre, an iconic organisation at the heart of Geelong’s cultural scene. It anchors the corporates as locals in the new HQ, demonstrates their commitment to the community and inspires their staff to make the relocation with them.
Similarly, Dolly’s Dream has its roots in regional Queensland, where the charity’s founders are based. Its partnership with Nutrien Ag Solutions builds on that shared footprint to connect staff, customers and supporters with a grassroots charity.
Local impact
Cobram Estate is the biggest manufacturer of olive oil in Australia and a household name with a global business, but they chose to establish a local partnership that invests in Victoria, close to their olive groves. They partner with the Victorian Malleefowl Recovery Group, to support the endangered malleefowl bird which lives around their groves. The partnership highlights Cobram Estate’s focus on sustainability, particularly through promoting the well-being of animals, birds, and insects in their groves by avoiding insecticides and encouraging natural predators.
Local partnerships can be more effective in demonstrating impact and measuring that impact over the longer term as they are more embedded in communities.
Local customers
Rural Aid has its roots in rural and regional Australia, helping drought affected farmers in outback areas and towns. It was able to build on the local business networks and shared footprint to attract local partners like Massey Ferguson and Ineos Automotive, for whom farming communities are the main customers.
Similarly, Roundabout Canberra provides material aid to disadvantaged families in the Canberra area. It works with over 140 local partners to source essential items like cots, prams and clothing and offers plenty of volunteering opportunities for their corporate partners’ staff and customers. Roundabout Canberra has a major partnership with Synergy Group, who are key consultants to the government departments based in Canberra. Synergy is able to offer financial support, volunteering, expertise and local relationships to this grassroots organisation.
When corporates are looking to expand operations, they often seek a local partnership to build their customer networks. When Mountain Goat Beer expanded from Melbourne to Sydney, they partnered with Sydney Film Festival to tap into new audiences, new promotions and brand exposure in their new territory.
Going local builds on real relationships and a shared commitment to the areas in which you work. Local partners are often less bureaucratic than national or global corporates, as it’s quicker to get to the key decision makers. It’s also a less contested space, as other nonprofits chase the big, listed companies or famous brand names.
Local partnerships offer untapped value for nonprofits and the ability to test, refine and build their partnership capability. They can be staging posts to bigger, national partnerships, but have inherent value by themselves. In our book Partnerships Reimagined, we talk about the importance of building partnerships that are grounded in shared value and real relationships, something that local partnerships often do exceptionally well. Don’t miss out on local partnerships, as they could become lifelong partners for your cause.