The Benefits of Business–Nonprofit Partnerships

Enacting positive and meaningful change in the world is a difficult prospect. It requires a great deal of resources, the capability to direct vast groups of people, and a willingness to problem-solve on a large scale. While individuals can play an important part in this process, the reality is that in order to actually accomplish something big (think environmental sustainability initiatives or education and youth development programs), large organizations must take leadership roles. Organizations properly equipped to do so generally fall into one of three categories: governments, businesses, and nonprofit entities. 

While governments have both a large workforce and a great deal of taxpayer money at their disposal, they are oftentimes slow to act, and as such, are not always ideal for spearheading immediate and broad-sweeping change. Sometimes, it’s best to leave governments to conduct government work and make room for more nimble and fast-acting entities to take the reins on such projects.

Businesses definitely meet that description; however, their central focus is almost exclusively the pursuit of new markets, consumers, and opportunities for expansion, and not the pursuit of meaningful and positive change. Corporations, for example, have a legal obligation to make their main objective to earn as much money for their shareholders as they possibly can. While many do engage in charitable and humanitarian initiatives, these are more often than not side projects and not their primary goals. In much the same way, smaller businesses usually have to concentrate most of their efforts on building their customer base. Again, many make donations of money and time to good causes, but must necessarily turn most of their attention to other matters.

On the other hand, nonprofit entities exist solely to enact positive and meaningful change in the world. However, they usually lack the requisite resources to effectively do so. With few exceptions, nonprofits find themselves in the uncomfortable position of possessing the vision and plan—and even sometimes the network of personnel—to make a positive impact, but lacking the money, equipment, and influence required to fulfill their vision.

So, what’s the solution? How can large-scale change in the world ever come to fruition if governments, businesses, and nonprofits each lack one of the crucial elements needed to actually implement it? The answer is a partnership between two of these three forces, specifically a partnership between businesses and nonprofit entities.

When these two types of organizations come together in pursuit of a common goal, the combination of their efforts usually produces a far better result than either would or could achieve on their own. By employing the vision, planning capabilities, and personnel networks available to nonprofits and utilizing the money, equipment, and influence available to businesses, great things can be accomplished. Evidence of this can easily be found, with some notable present-day examples being IKEA’s partnership with UNICEF, Microsoft’s partnership with Mercy Corps, and Coca-Cola’s partnership with the World Wildlife Federation.

In short, when nonprofit entities partner with businesses, good causes benefit, meaningful change is fostered, and everyone wins.