What to Look for in a Not-for-Profit Partner

If you want to give to charity and add meaning to your business, you need the right not-for-profit partner. This ensures your efforts align with your values and create a genuine impact.

Small businesses with limited resources may prefer to handle social engagement internally. However, larger businesses engaging in philanthropy should partner with a not-for-profit for several reasons.

A not-for-profit partner offers valuable expertise and insight into the social issue you’re addressing. Their knowledge can help guide your efforts. Secondly, they can help take some of the logistics and organisational work that you don’t need to be worrying about off your hands.

When seeking a philanthropic partner, the first requirement is that they become a true partner. This is crucial for success in your efforts. But there are quite a few other must-haves for a not-for-profit to qualify as a good one.

Here’s some of them:

Vision

Every great vision needs a steady path to success. For not-for-profits, consistent support lights the way to long-term impact.

Similar to any for-profit organisation, not-for-profits need a constant inflow of resources to be able to budget for certain expenses and take certain steps. In other words, they need to be able to plan to achieve long-term goals and long-term results. Many not-for-profit organizations struggle with inconsistent financial support. This makes it difficult for them to maintain a long-term vision.

Consequently, many of them end up engaging in separate initiatives and campaigns that have little long-term effect in terms of alleviating the social problem they are tackling. Typically they end up simply dealing with the symptoms of the social problem. Without a bigger picture in mind, an organisation can rarely achieve much in the long run. If you are truly invested and inspired to make a difference, you need a partner to share your enthusiasm and keep you motivated. You need a partner with a vision.

Expertise

To be effective, you need a partner with experience and understanding of the social issue. It’s even more important to have someone familiar with the group you want to help. Whether your target group is the homeless, single mothers, underprivileged families, orphans, or whomever it may be – you need somebody who understands the source of the issue and the pains and struggles of the group. This means that your partner would have a good idea of what actions and strategies would help. Their insight should be able to steer you in the right direction in terms of approach.

Willingness to be a partner

This is what I mentioned in the beginning and it may well be the most important requirement. Traditionally tackling social problems has been looked at as the domain of charity and not-for-profit organisations. Things are changing with the rise of social entrepreneurs and B-corporations. The boundaries between business and the non-profit sector are gradually disappearing.

Many not-for-profit organizations still believe social change is their sole responsibility. They view businesses as only providers of financial support. Some not-for-profits may hesitate to fully partner with you. They may be reluctant to work closely, offering guidance and support. This can limit your impact on your business. You need a partner who shares their experience and works with you to develop your ideas. Together, you can create an effective, sustainable social engagement plan.

Ability to measure results

Measuring your impact goes beyond numbers—it’s about understanding the ripples of your efforts and their true reach.

Being able to measure the results from your efforts is oftentimes challenging, especially with social engagement where you have a direct impact and often knock-on effects too. It may not always be straightforward to know how many people you’ve helped or how much you’ve helped them but it is key.

You need to know what works and what doesn’t so you can adjust. With this in mind, your not-for-profit partner must have a measurement system in place for their effort. Not having one would be a red flag as it essentially means they have no actual track record of results. This is not to say that you should use their measurement system but it increases the chances of them being able to help you put together one suitable for you. If they have the knowledge and experience with the social problem you would like to take on, they would have an insight as to what needs measuring and how to best measure it.

Passion

Needless to explain this one but just as a reminder – you need somebody passionate about your social mission. Your partner needs to be as excited about your cause as you are to keep you motivated and engaged. This being said, it is sometimes better to partner with smaller not-for-profit organisations that have a specific focus and work for a cause that is dear to their heart rather than a larger one working towards different causes but not as passionate about any one of them, as the people you will likely be dealing with will not be on the front-line of the problem.

If you would like to know more about good not-for-profit partners and how to put together a healthy, sustainable social engagement program, please don’t hesitate to contact me. As a corporate philanthropy consultant with many years of business coaching experience, I can help you integrate meaning and purpose into your business. More importantly, I can help you make the transition to for-profit and purpose smooth.

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