Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen charities of all types and sizes create new partnerships and grow existing ones – often in record time. We keep coming back to these examples as a source of inspiration and thought we’d share a few of them to keep your mind on what’s possible in the weeks ahead.

Changing Faces’ exciting new partner:

Changing Faces knows that for people with a visible difference, lockdown could have a significant impact. In particular, people with a visible difference have spent time building up their confidence to be a part of society, but now this isolation could set them back, so that when lockdown lifts, they fear re-entering the world again.

They took to new business approaches with vigour. With one of their prospects – a leading make-up brand – they were able to go from a cold approach to an agreed partnership in a matter of one email, two meetings and eight days. The partnership will include a cause-related marketing promotion and some really inspiring digital media activity.

The team reflected on the importance of approaching companies based on shared purpose (in this case, empowering people to feel confident about their appearance), and how the compelling narrative of what coronavirus means for their beneficiaries enabled them to mobilise faster than ever before.

LandAid’s £700,000+ corporate campaign:

LandAid unites businesses across the property, real estate and construction industries to build accommodation for young people facing homelessness. With some predicting that these sectors will be the hardest hit by coronavirus, it’s all too easy to see why their corporate partnerships team may have held off from speaking to partners about continuing their support.

What their team did instead was get in touch with their sense of what was possible and pivot from capital campaigns to providing emergency support. With individual communication with each partner, including Savills, Landsec and Grosvenor Estate, they have been able to secure around £700,000 of support in just three weeks.

They said if there was anything they’d learned from their success so far, it was to never underestimate your partners’ capacity for generosity whilst being sensitive of their struggles. There are no easy wins in corporate partnerships at the best of times, but if your partners are loyal, believe in your work, and your team, they may surprise you, even now.

Richard House’s problem-solving partnership:

This children’s hospice was able to secure a partnership with a major UK company based on a national, digital, pro-bono project. They approached the company with the shared purpose of keeping families and nurses active and were able to mobilise content along the theme of that purpose in just four days.

By joining the company’s employees with the hospice’s Family Services Team , they are sharing content suited for seriously ill children, as well as their siblings and carers.. This will be of huge value now, but the team are also excited that this partnership could last a long time and go a long way to delivering the charity’s purpose in the years to come.

Birmingham Children’s Hospital’s #NHSSweatySelfie:

Based on an inspiration of their frontline staff averaging 20,000 steps a day, Birmingham Children’s Hospital teamed up with training apparel brand GymShark for a consumer engagement campaign. Doing their bit to keep fit, for every person sharing a post-exercise photo with the hashtag #NHSSweatySelfie, GymShark pledged a £5 donation up to the value of £175,000.

This campaign, live until the 30^th of April serves to meet both the charity and the company’s purpose. By keeping fit, you are preventing illness, and they’re giving individuals an opportunity to align themselves with the values of both the company and the NHS frontline. This proves GymShark’s relevance and purpose even in uncertain times, creating that win-win partnership we are all looking for.

The key learning that we take from this partnership, is that when a company and a charity have a really strong fit, then the scale of the partnership is enormous. We also love that it demonstrates the power of a brilliant partnership idea.

All four teams listed above have done incredible work, and we’ve spotted that they have three things in common:

1. They’ve spoken about what coronavirus means for the people they help
2. They’ve approached companies with a shared purpose
3. They’ve acted quickly

If you want support on embracing any of these themes or to hear more about any of the examples listed, get in touch on team@remarkablepartnerships.com