Charities may be failing to value the contributions offered by their corporate partners as the Corporate Partnerships Survey 2010 finds that volunteering and gifts-in-kind are part of around half of corporate partnerships but most fundraisers are not calculating non-financial gifts.

While the primary way that companies support their charity partners is still cash, with 87 per cent of partnerships involving financial report, Fundraising’s survey has found that just over half of partnerships involve the giving of gifts in kind, and 49.3 per cent include the company donating volunteering hours.

But while companies view these non-financial contributions as important, few charities actually calculate the amount of volunteer hours donated. The Corporate Partnerships Survey 2010 found that just a quarter of fundraisers considered volunteering when evaluating the success of a partnership, compared to 85 per cent who used the amount raised in measuring success.

For some companies, the ability for a charity partner to provide volunteering opportunities to help engage their staff is a deal breaker.

In a series of interviews published in the special Corporate Partnerships report, Bob Thust, head of community investment at Deloitte, emphasised the importance his company  places on non-financial contributions.

“Fundraising is one huge thing, but we also want to do volunteering and we want to provide our services through pro bono work,” he said. “If a charity came to us and said there was no potential to develop a volunteering opportunity, we would not really be interested in that.”

The survey of a 148 fundraisers about their experiences of corporate partnerships was conducted online this year, between May and October.

 

The full Corporate Partnerships Survey 2010 can be purchased here.