How Nonprofits Can Create a Value Proposition That Attracts Business Partnerships

Running a nonprofit is rarely a solo mission. Even if you’re operating from your home office, getting the funds and other tools for your projects requires the support of other people. This isn’t just private donors. Finding business partners can open you up to resources and networking opportunities that help your nonprofit to thrive.

Yet, businesses aren’t just going to partner with just any nonprofit that asks. There will be commercial decisions at play. As a result, crafting a persuasive value proposition that communicates why your nonprofit is the right focus for business support is essential to your success.

Understanding the Business Imperative

From your nonprofit's perspective, the imperatives of building a business partnership strategy are relatively clear. After all, private companies have resources — monetary or otherwise — that can help support your goals. Yet, the imperative isn’t always particularly clear from the opposite perspective. It’s difficult to pitch your nonprofit effectively to get donations from companies if you don’t understand what their incentives for engaging with you would be, so looking into this is your first step.

Market research is your friend here. You already likely know what types of businesses have resources to meet your nonprofit’s needs. So, from here, you need to do more in-depth research into these specific markets. Look at the operational goals of the businesses and their core values. Even establishing the demographics companies are trying to reach can help you narrow down common areas of focus that you can benefit from.  After all, if they want to reach audiences that prioritize the cause you represent, you may be an ideal organization for them to be seen aligning with.

In essence, you want to better understand the needs, motivations, and interests of businesses so you can establish how your nonprofit can fit into these. Some software platforms can help you efficiently gather and analyze this data. However, it’s important to use platforms designed for business-to-business (B2B) research, as these use data sets most relevant to establishing a value proposition for corporate outreach.

Crafting a Compelling Value Proposition

Understanding business imperatives to engage with your nonprofit is the data-led part of the process. The next step is to use collaboration and creativity to craft a compelling value proposition connected to the business imperatives you’ve identified. Wherever possible, use a diverse range of employees in the initial stages. Group brainstorming sessions help ensure your ideation is informed by multiple perspectives in one fell swoop, which can bring some interesting and exciting ideas you may not otherwise have been privy to. It is also a chance to explore concepts more fully to identify fresh ways to connect with business partners.

So, what components should you consider when crafting your value proposition? It’s important to include the following, among others.

Storytelling 

You’ll need to determine how your value proposition tells a compelling story about your nonprofit, its goals, and its relationship to the businesses you want to connect to. This is the main way you can make an emotional impact with the business representatives you’ll be reaching out to. Remember to structure your proposition with storytelling beats to maintain engagement and lead your audience to positive outcomes.

Impact articulation

Alongside the emotional elements of storytelling, never forget that you’re pitching to businesspeople. Ensure that your value proposition incorporates a clear sense of the impact your nonprofit can have and how this reflects on the businesses you partner with. Outline not just the tangible benefits but also the intangible outcomes, such as indirect effects on company culture and employee satisfaction.

Communication and Pitching

Once you’ve developed your core value proposition, communicating it effectively is the next step in attracting business partnerships. This doesn’t just involve emailing your standard proposition as a bulk email to potential partners alongside a link to make donations. You still need to be strategic in how you pitch.

Perhaps the most crucial action is to tailor your value proposition for each potential business partner. People don’t always want to see standardized messaging that is filled with marketing buzzwords when receiving B2B communications. These terms — such as “disruptor,” “actionable,” and “visionary” — can feel cliched and not particularly meaningful. In particular, do some keyword research on the common buzzwords in their industry and steer clear of these.

Tailor each outreach communication to be a personal pitch for the company or, where possible, each recipient. Refer to details about the business’ actions or values alongside the creative storytelling text you’ve built for your proposition. This can help them feel more connected to your nonprofit already and it shows you’re paying attention. Aim for clarity in your outreach — get to the point without a lot of jargon.

Above all else, ensure that your pitch leaves them in no doubt that a partnership will be mutually beneficial. Not just in a commercial sense but also in your value proposition, which should make this clear. Your communications should give them the sense that interacting with your nonprofit will be a pleasant and enriching experience.

Conclusion

Crafting the right value proposition can help you gain business partnerships to support your nonprofit’s projects. This must always be led with data on what is important to the companies you’re seeking and using creative yet clear approaches to developing your outreach. Don’t neglect to build ongoing relationships with your partners once you’ve captured their interest with your proposition, either. The greater the genuine connections businesses have with your nonprofit, the more longevity and positive impact your mutually beneficial partnership is likely to have.