What We Learned From Charity Partnership Review Meetings
Kelvin Lynch, Chief Operating Officer
Over recent months, we’ve carried out in-depth conversations with a varied group of Work for Good member charities (from small specialist organisations to large national brands) to better understand how the platform fits into their fundraising strategy and operations and where the biggest opportunities for improvement lie.
What we found was not a single “best practice model”, but a consistent set of themes that directly influence success. We’ve summarised our findings and learnings into the following 5 themes:
1. Team Structure & Ownership
Ownership of SME sales giving differs from charity to charity - sitting in corporate partnerships, community fundraising, or regional teams (or in an overall fundraising team in smaller charities). The most successful charities, irrespective of size, tend to have two things in common:
- Someone with named responsibility for Work for Good - even if only a small focus
- Awareness of Work for Good capabilities and use cases across all fundraising teams so that no business opportunity is turned away
2. Platform Use
For larger charities, Work for Good acts as a solution for donations below internal value thresholds (typically £10,000 per year). This allows them to:
- avoid unnecessary legal and administrative burden
- accept donations of any size from any size business
- offer a pathway for lower-value relationships to grow
For smaller charities, the platform provides access and execution capability that wasn’t previously viable due to legal cost and resource capacity limitations.
3. Supporter Engagement
Most charities bring Work for Good donors into their standard stewardship journey, but some are taking it further by designing bespoke experiences, including annual appreciation days or tailored communication sequences.
Where this works best, charities:
- steward Work for Good donors with the same value mindset as individuals
- invite them into the organisation’s story and impact with invitations to events etc.
- treat smaller sales donors as potential long-term partners
4. Fundraising Effectiveness
Evaluation methods vary. While some compare annual membership cost against donations alone, others use a broader framework that values:
- operational efficiency
- brand standards and compliance
- avoiding reputational risk from turning donors away
- potential for donor lifetime growth
- the value and opportunity that unrestricted funding provides
5. Collaboration & Promotion
Charities told us that Work for Good’s promotional approach (through newsletters, and re-sharing social media content primarily) is both welcome and helpful, especially given that most charities use social media more for awareness and storytelling than direct fundraising solicitation.
With Work for Good amplifying charity awareness, campaigns, and fundraising posts, charities can stay true to their communications strategy, whilst still increasing visibility through the Work for Good supporter networks.
What’s Next: Building a Stronger Community of Practice
Our goal at Work for Good is to continue helping charities get the most from the platform and the service by:
- sharing best practice and peer examples;
- offering practical tools, templates and “one-pagers” where applicable; and
- continuing to conduct partnership review meetings into a regular cadence of learning and feedback loops.
If you’d like to proactively schedule a partnership review meeting please get in touch at hello@workforgood.co.uk and we’ll do our best to make it happen.
