A study by NPC* revealed that 50% of charities have taken company volunteers they did not actually need, due to fear of upsetting their company partners. Yes, this stat was shocking one to us too, which is why we conducted our own study to ask UK charities of their experience when it comes to charity-company collaboration.
We created a pilot study to obtain information from charities regarding their current state of collaboration with companies and what they would wish for the future. We received 558 answers from charities of all sizes, roughly corresponding to the percentages of charities in different size categories in the UK.
Here are the key findings of this survey: whatCharity_Survey_Key_Findings_May2018
From miscommunication to collaboration
Companies often build their programmes from the team building perspective or use charitable giving as part of their brand building. Due to the lack of a long term partnership with a charity, they often have little knowledge of how charities actually operate.
Clearly, a “win-win” mentality and better communication is needed on both sides. Charities need to be in the driver’s seat during collaboration discussions, whilst companies need to better understand the charity’s requirements and the impact of their projects.
Some companies have advised us that it has been difficult to get timely responses to queries or even get in contact with the charities they wished to collaborate with. Finding suitable charities to work with is considered too time consuming, which in turn results in a loss of volunteer hours and donations. In light of the fact that there are more than 180,000 registered charities in the UK and over 600,000 additional unregistered charities – this seems like a waste.
Consultants and Human Resource Executives create “team days out” with charities. Their intentions may be good, but often more satisfying the hunger for curiosity than the hunger of beneficiaries.
Companies who invest in company citizenship and charitable programmes need charities to report results and impact created together, which sometimes seem too much for charities to deliver as they do not have skills or resources to do so. In order to make this reporting on impact easier, whatimpact has developed a social impact reporting tool, a unique, structured process that alleviates the paperwork burden for charities while delivering clarity and value for companies.
whatimpact.com is a space where all companies can collaborate with charities and social enterprises effectively – we are all about impact and are here to help your company to discover its impact-potential. Get in touch to discuss your options. Alternatively, you can set up a free 15 minute call.
*NPC, New Philanthropic Capital, Building more impactful corporate-charity partnerships, March 2018
