your corporate partners are seeking roi final...your corporate partners are seeking roi. are you...

Your Corporate Partners are Seeking ROI. Are you Providing It?• Bruce Rosenthal, Bruce Rosenthal

Associates, LLC – Moderator

• Laura McFarland, NACUBO – National Association of College and University Business Officers

• Renee Shew, Mutual of America

• Chris Flood, Nareit

Who We Are and Why We Are Here

• Bruce Rosenthal: Experience with associations and other non-profit organizations.

• Laura McFarland: Business background. Education membership association.

• Renee Shew: Corporate partner.

• Chris Flood: Business trade association.

What We’re Talking About Today

• Corporate partnerships are business decisions

• Moving from transactional to transformational

• Creating ROI value for each corporate partner• Why this is about sales and marketing

• How to position your association (and foundation) for success

• Next steps

Current Trends

It’s all about Business Decisions

• Associations are making business decisions

• Members are making business decisions

• Corporate partners are making business decisions

The Great Big ROI Disconnect

Most Associations are Selling

Companiesare Buying

VisibilityAwareness

AttitudeBehavior/

Engagement

Associations are Changing: Business Article

Article in the Harvard Business Review:

“The most successful nonprofits think about fundraising like sales: They’re as thoughtful about the benefits to the funder as about those to the beneficiaries they serve, often creating mission-aligned products or experiences tailored to a specific type of funder.”“What the Best Nonprofits Know About Strategy,” by Kevin Barenblat, Harvard Business Review, August 9, 2018

Associations are Changing: Nonprofit Article

Article in NonProfitPRO:

“Today, the best corporate philanthropy tends to align itself with the corporation’s business strategy in ways that pay dividends for the company...”

“The Future of Philanthropy, Part 1,” by Tarsha Whitaker Calloway, NonProfitPRO, August 8, 2018

Create Relationships with ROI Value for Each Prospective Corporate Partner

Align Your Association and Each Company

Your Association• Mission• Member needs• Visibility needs

Each Company• Goals for biz dev, branding,

knowledge leadership

Align!

Create the “Corporate Partnership Program of Choice”

• Position your association like a think tank

• Accentuate your association’s intellectual assets

• Know your member demographics

• Hype your audience

Align with each partner

Determining CorporatePartners’ Objectives and ROI

The Objective is ROI

• It’s not philanthropy

• There’s plenty of competition for your association’s partnership program.

• Companies have choices.

How to Determine Each Company’s Business Goals

• The beauty of asking

• Probe each company’s:

o marketing goals

o marketing tactics

o ROI measurement

o criteria for success

Engagement Strategy

Why this is All about Sales and Marketing

• Your association is selling value to your partners

• Your partners are selling to your members

• You should ....

o serve partners like a marketing agency account exec

o offer sales and marketing solutions

o deliver services to provide ROI

Package Benefits/Components

Don’t Offer Low-Value Benefits

• Gold/silver/bronze

• Static visibility

• A la carte commodity

• Long list of low-level benefits

Package Benefits as ROI Solutions

• Key areas of interest to corporate partners:o Business developmento Brand differentiationo Thought leadership

• Customize for eachcorporate partner

Closing the Deal

Negotiating the Win-Win

• Finding the win-win

• Getting to “yes”

In Summary:• Provide ROI ....• for each corporate partner

Next Steps

• Network; gather info

• Create a culture of mission-focused business

• Buy-in from board, CEO/ED, staff

• Develop a business plan

• Ingrain in goals, workplans

• Involve corporate partners

Contact Information

Bruce RosenthalPrincipalBruce Rosenthal Associates, LLC301-922-6179bruce@brucerosenthal.associateswww.brucerosenthal.associates

Laura McFarlandSenior Director, Business DevelopmentNACUBO – National Association of College

and University Business Officers202-861-2563LMcFarland@nacubo.orgwww.nacubo.org

Renee ShewVice President CEBS CRPSMutual of America202-340-4744Renee.Shew@mutualofamerica.com

Chris Flood, CAEVice President, Business DevelopmentNareit202-739-9412cflood@nareit.comreit.com

Questions?