Maya Angelou said, “Take the attitude of a student. Never be too big to ask questions. Never know too much to learn something new.”

That’s why we loved Corporate Partnerships Everywhere , because it is jam-packed with valuable learning from companies and charities. We want to share with you our top five highlights from the conference.

1. Stick to what you do well

Its always valuable to gain insight from the corporate sector. In this session, David Adair and our very own Jonathan Andrews talked about what the cost-of-living crisis means for corporate charity partnerships. Hybrid working has impacted us all but if you can give your prospects or partners employees a reason to come into the office or make a real impact from home, they’re yours.

Remember your value. A truly great partnership understands what each party does well. David’s advice for making this happen was: 1. Do your homework, understand what’s important to them 2. Bigger is not always better, you can start small and grow a bigger partnership 3. We’re all human, people like to partner with people we like and trust.

2. It’s all about who you know

We really enjoyed the session presented by Tom Harbour from Learning with Parents and Ben Hemington from IG Group. Over the last two years they have built an ambitious partnership to help children learn good financial habits at a young age.

 One of the most powerful insights from their session was that Learning with Parents approached IG Group, because Tom and Ben already had a relationship. They had been on an interview panel together. As Tom said, “Everytime I meet someone I make that LinkedIN connection.”. This really shows the power of a warm connection.

3. The power of case studies

Joe Waters, Founder of Selfishgiving.com ran an energetic and thought-provoking session on case studies which has changed our way of thinking about them. Joe invited us to use ‘WHY’ as our focus in case studies about partnerships. Joe told us it is important “to tell the sizzle not the sausage” – a perfect way to remember to articulate the journey to the outcome, not just the result. The session provided the audience with the 7 questions you should ask to build a perfect case study which included 1. The objective, 2. The backstory, 3. The how, 4. The results, 5. The reason for success, 6. The evidence and 7. What makes this partnership exceptional. If you haven’t seen this session, catch up is a must.

4. Create the perfect pitch

A huge thanks to our volunteers Remi Ray, Anna McNee, Sarah Graham who all pretended to pitch to their ideal corporate partner. All three did an outstanding job, and it reminded us that there is lots we can from seeing other pitch.  The most memorable details of these pitches were the stories. Anna from Dementia UK told us the story of ‘Annie’ who had the juggle of multiple jobs, her own family and caring for her mother with Dementia. The twist in the story was that Annie is in fact Anna, the presenter. Her personal story really resonated with the audience, so much so that Anna was the winner of the pitch stop this year. If you don’t have a personal story to tell, go out and meet your beneficiaries as telling it from the heart will allow your audience to connect with your cause because of it.   

5.  Speak the same language

Thank you to our friends at CAF for bringing to life this often-challenging topic of impact measurement. By following these key principles, you can bring your strategy to life. 

Be clear of expectations right from the start. Think about what’s possible and what’s actually going to be used. Keep it simple.

Create a theory of change, what does success look like and how you are going to get there.

Fundamental and perhaps one of the most overlooked. What capacity do you have? Think proportionality. Does the size of the funding and activity equal the measurement required? It may be that you can build on existing frameworks that are already in place.

We hope you enjoyed Corporate Partnerships Everywhere as much as we did. If you would like to share your highlight of the conference, please email us at: team@remarkablepartnerships.com