I was very impressed last night by the talk I heard at the Directors of Volunteer Administration meeting by Community Servings' CEO, David Waters. The subject of the meeting was corporate partnerships. Community Servings is a not-for-profit food and nutrition program providing services throughout Massachusetts to individuals and families living with critical and chronic illnesses. Around Thanksgiving every year they sell a whole lot of pies to raise funds for their programs. The program is so successful that it even has it’s own web page pieinthesky.org. Part of what makes it so successful is the partnership with Coldwell Banker.
The evolution of the program is pretty interesting and I’m going to do my best to paraphrase David. Back in the beginning of the program, Community Servings was looking to for a partner to help sell pies. The best source of skilled salespeople they could think of were Realtors. So, they approached three Boston-area realty businesses and convinced them to compete over who could sell the most pies. We all know that salespeople are competitive by nature. But the real draw of this program for the Realtors was the opportunity for a great conversation starter with new prospects and the ability to bring people into their offices to pick up the pies and further build relationships. Over time, the three businesses merged into one as part of Coldwell Banker and not only do they continue the pie sales, they throw in additional cash donations from the company as part of the project.
Sweet deal, huh? This is a great story and a great partnership because everybody gets a piece of the pie. Community Servings sells a lot more pies and raises a lot more funds than they could on their own. Coldwell Banker gets to build relationships and goodwill with potential clients. Corporate-Nonprofit partnerships have benefits and costs to both parties. The key is to make sure the benefits far out way the costs for everyone involved.
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