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Small Businesses and Corporations: Tapping Corporate Giving During a Recession
Part Six
How can your organization weather economic downturns? Do you attempt to broaden your corporate grant support during a recession? How do you make strategic decisions when asking for corporate support? What can you expect from business and corporate grantmakers in the next year or two? Is it possible to position your organization to take advantage of the current economic climate?
These are the questions we are all asking ourselves as the economy slowly erodes, leaving nonprofit organizations wondering where they fit in and how they can continue to garner support from a financially strapped business community.
Here are recent statistics on corporate charitable giving in the U.S.:
- Corporate foundations gave $4.2 billion in 2006.
- Giving by the nation's 2,600 corporate foundations grew an estimated 6% in 2006.
- 57% of corporate foundations expected to increase their giving in 2007.
Although these statistics do not yet reflect the effects of the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, skyrocketing oil prices, and the ever-increasing global food shortage, it stands to reason that these recent negative economic trends will create a rising demand for grant awards in 2008, creating an even more competitive market for grant dollars.
Most corporate grantmakers are expecting to see more grant requests this year – and they likely will. The obvious question then becomes, "How will grantmakers respond to the glut of applications?" The best advice is to keep a close eye on corporate giving guidelines, as they are one of the first places that you'll be able to see grantmakers' responses.
It appears that many grantmakers are, in fact, revising their giving guidelines because of the impending recession. There are any number of subtle shifts that might take place so that grantmakers can ensure that their support continues to have significant impact. Grantmakers might determine to restrict their geographic scope. They might begin providing more general operating support and capacity building grants and less support for special projects.
Grantmakers use capacity building grants to shore up nonprofit organizations throughout the United States. First and foremost, grantmakers look to fund leadership development, followed by strategic planning, board development, fundraising, and information technology. One intended benefit of this recent trend toward supporting organizational sustainability is to help nonprofits broaden their income streams.
Position Your Organization for Change
Your organization can wait until its income stream from local businesses and corporations starts to dwindle, or you can develop a strategic approach that will help your organization weather this economic downturn, and perhaps even strengthen its basic support.
One method of positioning your nonprofit in order to secure corporate support is to mimic corporate management tactics. This isn't a new trend, as many national nonprofits have been adopting corporate management practices for years, but it may be new to your organization. In fact, establishing a partnership with a well-run local business that can mentor you through this change in management style is one way to garner local support. You can ask these businesses for assistance doing an organizational assessment, reviewing your ethics policies, or training board members about financial management. You can request something as comprehensive as developing a marketing plan, or as specific as advice on networking your office computers.
In truth, you want to extend your reach into the local business and corporate community. Now is not the time to be shy about asking for assistance, though thinking carefully about what you can and should ask for from any given business is important.
Be sure to do your homework. Don't depend on asking the most popular businesses for cash over and over. Think about the next layer down, those businesses that have nominal community profiles but that support the work of their more widely recognized counterparts. In other words, look to the vendors and contractors that provide services to the big companies in your area. Try to establish new relationships with these businesses. Start with a request that makes sense and is easy for the business to provide. |
Building an Assertive Corporate Grantseeking Program
An important component of developing a robust grantseeking strategy is learning how to tap into corporate funding. GrantStation offers a comprehensive series of articles, Unlocking the Corporate Treasury, which can help you navigate the corporate giving landscape. This series will give you a good overview of how to solicit businesses for support, as well as the sort of support you can expect businesses to provide. This series is available through the Archives to full GrantStation Members only.
If you're already a Member, you can login to read it. If you're interested in becoming a Member, visit the Membership FAQ page to learn more. |
For example, GrantStation is located just down the hill from the University of Alaska. If an on-campus nonprofit came to us and asked if we could donate a GrantStation Membership, and perhaps some pro bono training on grants research, I would say "yes" because it is within the realm of what I can afford to do, both financially and time-wise. If they came to me and asked for a cash gift of $1,000, I'd say "no" because I am being very cautious about writing checks these days because of the downturn in the economy, high energy prices, etc.
Next week I'll step aside to let GrantStation's newest researcher, Amanda Bales, give you some insight into the value of technical assistance.
Tracks to Success is edited by Katy Mulcrone.
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can be sent to her at katy@grantstation.com.
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