Businesses need new customers, nonprofits need new revenue…now more than ever.
In a challenging time of unprecedented volatility, nonprofits across the country find their traditional revenue sources decimated…while most businesses continue to layoff and furlough employees, struggling to maintain adequate cash flow.
Now, more than ever, businesses need to think more like nonprofits and nonprofits need to think more like businesses.
As a social entrepreneur and consultant who’s founded and scaled hugely successful business and nonprofit ventures, I’ve discovered that exponential value can be guaranteed when Business NonProfit Partnerships are architected by an experienced guide with the greater good in mind. Here’s why:
1. Make sure your brand is authentic and active on social impact strategies
Pair Power – Take this to the bank: Millennials and Gen Zers now represent 40% of the market. They totally identify with brands that are authentic and active on meaningful social impact strategies.
At the same time, nonprofits live and breathe the art of impact daily…working on the frontlines of issues that resonate within their communities.
This is a match made in heaven
2. Art of Impact
When two organizations are aligned and agree to share their resources and network, this is what I call the “art of impact”.
Too often, corporate partnerships teamed with nonprofits are transactional and one-dimensional, but the truth is, successful corporate charity partnerships have little to do with charity or check writing – and everything to do with crafting a new business nonprofit brand.
When the for-profit and nonprofit collide, the result is a whole new brand! They meet each other in the middle to:
- solve a common problem
- discover a common currency
- recognize each other’s strengths and weaknesses
- fill in each other’s knowledge and network gaps
- capitalize on the exponential impact both parties make by collaborating vs. siloing or delegating to a marketing agency.
This is the art of impact.
3. Smile Like You Mean It
For-Profit-Non-Profit partnerships only work when both parties are willing to let go and forge a new identity together – one mission, one team, one goal. Easy to say, hard to do. I’ve seen many corporate partnerships with nonprofits crash and burn when they lead with the wrong intentions. Juan Lopez, friend and GM at Red Bull, once told me “You can never fake authenticity”. He’s right, and those who do always lose.
If you want customers to wear your brand like a badge, smile like you mean it.
During my career founding and scaling a successful business and nonprofit, I was constantly unearthing business nonprofit connectivity that all too often went overlooked or missing in conference rooms, video chats, and the day-to-day sales and strategic partnership grind.
After discovering the connectivity, I designed, built and developed a Business Nonprofit Partnerships model and architecture and applied it to numerous lifestyle brands seeking a meaningful integration into my homegrown Forecastle Festival, which helped propel it from 60 patrons to 75,000, ultimately being acquired by AC Entertainment and Live Nation. Two examples of many successful business nonprofit strategies:
“Whole Foods & Heine Brothers Coffee”
Mission: Create a new coffee blend that attracts new customers to Whole Foods and Heine Brothers Coffee, while supporting indigenous Central American communities and protecting critical biodiversity through The Forecastle Foundation.
Strategy: Pair national retailer Whole Foods with local business Heine Brothers on a unique, community-driven, give back blend. Leverage Heine Brother’s extensive grower relationships, while partnering with Whole Foods to maximum awareness. Launch a targeted, PR & MKTG campaign across retail and non-profit channels, to share the story and reach unreachable customers in a highly competitive landscape.
Results: Whole Foods attracts a new audience and drives strong sales by attracting new consumers interested in the community partnership and give-back mission. For Heine Brothers Coffee, they receive a proprietary product that reinforces the company’s longstanding commitment to the communities in which it operates, while keeping its coffee line fresh and loyal customers interested.
“Kentucky Bourbon Trail”
Mission: Craft the next generation of Kentucky Bourbon aficionados, while providing a new revenue vertical for The Forecastle Foundation.
Strategy: Design a “turn-of-the-century rickhouse meets prohibition-era speakeasy” inside the Forecastle Festival, called “The Bourbon Lodge”. Combine bands with brands. Invite bands to sample single-barrel selections from their favorite brands. Pair Woodford Reserve, Four Roses, Old Forester, Heaven Hill and Wild Turkey with artists Alabama Shakes, Band of Horses, Spoon, and many more.
Results: For the brands, national press and alignments with popular, contemporary artists that would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to license. For the non-profit, thousands raised to support its local and global conservation programs and initiatives. For the festival, the experiential activation we titled The Bourbon Lodge grows from a 900 to 15,000 square foot, indoor / outdoor experience, while Forecastle is hailed as “Bourbon’s Most Important Festival” by Wall Street Journal best-selling author Fred Minnick.
“Sierra Nevada”
Mission: Inspired by the Sierra Nevada mountain range, craft a new product that protects the world’s most breathtaking environments.
Strategy: On behalf of The Forecastle Foundation, travel to Sierra Nevada to craft a new beer with Steve Grossman (brother of founder Ken Grossman). Over three days, a new expression emerges, designed to appeal to our target audience. The product is launched before Forecastle with a multi-tiered, on-premise PR, marketing and retail strategy. It is showcased at multiple locations throughout Forecastle, with its unique story told at each location.
Results: Millions of media impressions, thousands of new customer engagements and product line revenue for Sierra Nevada. For the Forecastle Foundation, new revenue vertical established to protect critical wildlife habitats from Argentina to Indonesia, Belize to Kentucky.