Building Community Partnerships for Fundraising: 4 Steps

The surrounding community provides nearly limitless opportunities for nonprofits to grow and expand their reach. Community outreach is a key strategy for acquiring donors and developing strong relationships with your organization.  

As your nonprofit explores new ways to improve outreach, it’s important to consider strategic partnerships, which can significantly enhance these efforts, providing additional resources, visibility, and support. In this guide, we’ll explore how to build and strengthen community partnerships to advance your fundraising goals.

1. Analyze Current Partnerships

Making the time or expanding your nonprofit’s budgetary capacity to secure partnerships can be tricky. That’s why it’s a good idea to start with what you already have in place or available to you and consider the easy wins your nonprofit can quickly achieve. Here are some key areas to explore:

• Supporter connections. Nonprofit board members are often influential community members with strong local networks. Leverage their connections to identify potential partners and invite them to make an introduction. 

• Professional networking relationships. Your nonprofit's staff and volunteers may have connections or contacts in industries relevant to your mission that can lay the foundation for a partnership. 

• Local business connections. Think about ways you’ve worked with local businesses in the past. For instance, if a sporting goods store sponsored your charity golf tournament’s hole-in-one contest, they might open doors to additional connections or a broader partnership. 

At this stage, consider assessing the marketing resources and collateral you already have, such as compelling stories from donors and beneficiaries. If you’re able to reuse or repurpose existing materials, you can spend time refining them instead of creating something new from scratch.

2. Develop Strategies for Building Connections

Once you have reviewed and identified existing assets and resources, you can brainstorm how to use them effectively and increase your capacity to meet your goals. This step shares similarities to conducting thorough prospect research, focusing on identifying and evaluating potential partners. These tips can help you develop well-rounded connection-building strategies: 

• Gather publicly available information about potential partners, such as their mission, past sponsorships, and community engagement.  

• Use the SWOT framework that uses strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to assess potential partnerships. 

• Start small, with the opportunity to scale when exploring possible collaborations. You might create a tiered approach with a range chart that illustrates the upper and lower limits for partner commitments. 

• Highlight mutual benefits that appeal to your potential partners, whether it’s brand visibility, community goodwill, networking opportunities, or other benefits for you and each of your potential partners. 

• Tailor your approach for different audiences. For example, a corporate sponsorship pitch requires a different approach than a one-off collaboration with a small local business. 

• Research local events such as conferences or community gatherings where you can meet and connect with prospective partners. 

• Keep event timelines in mind when planning your strategy. For instance, if your annual charity golf tournament is in three months and you’re working to secure a pin flag sponsor, focus on short-term pitches that require less time and effort to develop so you have enough turnaround time to have flags produced. 

Above all, keep your organization’s mission and fundraising goals at the heart of your strategy. As you develop partnership targets, ensure they align with your nonprofit’s values and can properly support your goals.

3. Cultivate Relationships With Potential Partners

Rather than jumping into an immediate pitch, this step focuses on building meaningful relationships first. Just like soliciting major gifts, cultivating trust and a strong connection is essential.  

These best practices from Bloomerang can help you successfully secure support from key players: 

• Prioritize prospects. Identify and prioritize partners based on those who align closely with your organization’s mission and fundraising goals.  

• Qualify prospects. Conduct informal, casual meetings and research to determine if the partnership is a good fit for your nonprofit.  

• Maintain regular communication. Staying in touch with potential partners through personalized outreach, event invitations, and email updates can all help continue cultivating the connection. 

• Create a tailored proposal. Use the information gleaned from the steps above to create a customized partnership request that reflects the partner’s interests and priorities.  

Not every outreach effort will result in a successful partnership—and that’s ok! Regardless of the outcome, it’s a good idea to thank prospective partners for their time and consideration. This keeps the door open for a future collaboration.

4. Plan and Execute the Collaboration

Your initial collaboration plan may not unfold exactly how you envisioned, so be prepared to adjust and expect to compromise. Work closely with your partner to ensure smooth execution, that both of your interests are represented, and that both parties reap the benefits. Consider these key steps for executing your partnership: 

• Clearly define roles, responsibilities, and deliverables for both parties. In other words, make it clear who is doing what, what information is necessary from your nonprofit and the partner, and how you’ll deliver on your promises.  

• Anticipate and address potential challenges as early in the partnership as possible. Continuing with the golf tournament example, if a partner expects immediate ROI for signing on as a partner (but the tournament isn’t for a few months), outline opportunities for cross-marketing, immediate exposure on your tournament’s event website, and inclusion in all promotional and fundraising materials to provide brand exposure and maintain engagement.  

• Establish strong communication channels to ensure expectations are being met and alignment continues to be strong. Regularly checking in with the partner keeps them engaged with your nonprofit. 

• Measure the success of the collaboration to assess its impact on everyone involved and identify areas for future improvement. It’s best practice to report back to the partner on a regular basis, not only for transparency but to help them understand how their support is helping you fulfill your mission. 

Build Community Partnerships for Fundraising Success

Whether you’re partnering with a large corporation or a small local business, strong community partnerships can help your nonprofit thrive in the long term. It’s key to remain proactive in seeking opportunities that help expand your reach. By analyzing existing relationships, developing targeted connection strategies, cultivating meaningful relationships, and executing well-structured collaborations, your nonprofit can boost your fundraising success and deepen your ties and impact within your community. 

Looking for an Investment Advisor for Your Nonprofit?   

Finding the right investment advisor shouldn’t be overwhelming. At Carnegie Investment Counsel, we understand the unique challenges nonprofits face when securing their financial future. We’re here to bring clarity and expertise to the process. Schedule a complimentary consultation today!  

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Disclaimer:   

This blog is for informational purposes only and is not meant as financial, legal, or tax advice. Please seek professional advice from qualified tax, legal, and/or financial professionals before making any financial decisions.      

Carnegie Investment Counsel (“Carnegie”) is a registered investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. For a more detailed discussion about Carnegie’s investment advisory services and fees, please view our Form ADV and Form CRS by visiting: https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/150488.