A Pocket Guide for Nonprofit Leaders. Building Strong Partnerships with Businesses. Maximizing Your Organization s Workforce Development Potential

Transcription

1 A Pocket Guide for Nonprofit Leaders Building Strong Partnerships with Businesses Maximizing Your Organization s Workforce Development Potential

2 Purpose Partnerships between nonprofit groups and businesses provide invaluable opportunities. Too often, nonprofits look to these joint efforts mainly as a source of contributions toward their social mission. Collaboration can increase funding but sometimes, even more importantly, it can increase access to knowledge-based resources and improve the relevance and effectiveness of programs and services. For nonprofits operating training, retention, and advancement efforts for low-wage workers, this can be critical. For these organizations, the ability to partner with not just businesses but potential employers of the individuals they are serving can be the lynchpin of initiative success. Business/employer partners can provide larger scale job placement opportunities, workplace service delivery options, and new program funding streams. Second, business/employer partners possess practical industry knowledge about projected areas of employment expansion and anticipated skills shortages. Synergistic partnerships with employers can also increase a nonprofit s organizational efficiency by tapping into a business s inhouse management tools and expertise. This pocket guide is designed to help nonprofit managers plan, initiate, expand and evaluate strategic alliances with business partners. The ideas and lessons in this guide draw directly from the experiences of 27 business/ nonprofit alliances funded by The Hitachi Foundation. These projects demonstrated effective alliances that benefit the business and nonprofit partners as well as the larger community. We hope the guide can serve as a basic roadmap for nonprofits that are attempting to recruit first-time business partners or trying to maximize the returns on existing business partnerships. It offers guidance rather than prescriptive plans. There is no one way to structure an effective partnership with business. Rather, you may find tips and questions to ask when creating alliances that benefit your organization.

3 The Hitachi Foundation Since it was created in 1985 by Hitachi Ltd, The Hitachi Foundation has supported efforts in communities that improve the quality of life of economically isolated people in the United States. Much of this work focuses on the roles and responsibilities of business in our society. Recognizing that current approaches to workforce development often fell far short of meeting the needs of businesses or lowwage workers, beginning in 2001 The Hitachi Foundation worked with 27 projects in communities throughout the United States. The Foundation invested over $4 million in efforts that explored how business and nonprofit partners could collaborate on a range of issues. Many of these efforts focused directly on the design, support, and implementation of retention and advancement strategies to benefit both businesses and their lower-wage workers. For more information, visit and click the Business and Work tab (formerly Business & Communities Grants Program.) 1. Why seek-out business partners? Dual-customer, workforce development strategies can meet the needs of both potential employees and employers. This approach connects the real world needs of employers with what low-income workers offer, recognizing these employees skills and deficiencies. The approach has delivered tremendous success in recent years. For nonprofits engaged in these workforce development approaches, meaningful business/employer involvement can be a critical component not only to help job seekers find jobs and employers find workers, but also to address long-term community workforce needs. Businesses and nonprofits however, have different cultures, organizational capacities, motivations, and purposes. Nonprofits are driven by their social missions to generate positive community returns. Businesses are driven by the need to generate profits and increase value for shareholders. Although the motivations may be different, opportunities for a productive business-nonprofit partnership exist when an alignment can be found between your organization s mission and a business profit motives. Skills training and workforce preparation is one area where the common goals and needs of businesses/employers and nonprofits directly align. A meaningful partnership in this area can address both the employment

4 and skills needs of local target populations and the financial bottom line of businesses/employers. Our experience shows that the most powerful and sustaining levels of business commitment to nonprofit partnerships occurred when businesses were able to clearly identify linkages between business priorities, community need, and project priorities. 2. How can a business partner help my organization realize its mission and achieve programmatic successes? Traditionally, American business engagement with lowincome communities has been largely limited to arms length philanthropy and volunteerism. In the last decade, however, a new generation of business-community partnerships has developed. Many small and mediumsized firms that cannot afford to maintain a costly human resource staff are looking for cost-effective ways to access training, recruiting, and staffing services. Thus an employer partner in need of HR solutions can be an invaluable ally in helping your organization realize its workforce mission and achieve programmatic successes in the following ways: Increased Program Effectiveness: An employer partner who can deliver jobs with strong career paths will strengthen your organization s effectiveness and placement performance by providing up-to-date information about job openings and emerging career options. Increased Program Relevance: Design input from employers can help your organization develop relevant programs based on the actual and projected needs of a business or an industry leading to the creation of informed outcomes-based education and skills training that is relevant to local labor market needs. Increased Political Leverage: Business partners can bring political leverage and become a powerful ally in working to reform local or regional workforce systems. Increased Visibility and Expanded Reputation: The active participation of business leaders in your organization can help increase your organization s visibility and standing. Program endorsements by business leaders can be an invaluable tool for recruiting other business partners. Strengthened Organizational Capacity: Effective partnerships generate numerous opportunities for

5 your organization to leverage your business partner s in-kind resources and management expertise in ways that can result in the expansion of your programmatic and organizational capacity. Expanded Revenue Streams: In addition to increasing your organization s fundraising capacity, if a business partner determines that your services add value to the firm s bottom line, fees-for-services can help diversify your funding base. 3. What can my organization contribute to a business? Once you have identified businesses that may be good partnership candidates, conduct a self-assessment inventory of your organization from the business perspective to determine What does my organization bring to the table in a partnership with a business? Options include but are not limited to: The ability to connect businesses to a new pipeline of workers: Through community-level connections, nonprofits can function as a link between businesses and difficult-to-reach potential workers from underrepresented groups. Reduced recruitment costs and increased retention rates: Nonprofits can provide businesses with new sources of pre-screened, skilled job applicants as well as critical worker supports such as childcare, transportation, and housing that can reduce turnover and absentee rates. Increased worker productivity: Nonprofits can provide off-site as well as on-site incumbent worker training and services that can increase productivity and performance. Subsidized worker benefits: Nonprofits can help business access subsidized pension plans, employee counseling, and financial knowledge and assetbuilding programs for lower-wage workers. These benefits can lower employer costs, boost staff morale, and increase retention. Assistance navigating the public workforce system: Nonprofits often have experience working with state and local governments on workforce development issues and can help guide businesses through complex application processes and red tape. Enhanced business brand image in the community: Nonprofit partners offer businesses an opportunity to generate good internal and external publicity and a reputation as a good corporate citizen.

6 4. How do I select a strong business partner? As with any partnership, you need to do some due diligence to determine if the potential business partner s needs and capabilities are compatible with your organization s capacity. Strong business partners can be found in businesses of any size, type, or organizational structure. The level of business engagement and sustained commitment to a nonprofit partnership is more important than whether the business is small or large. To locate potential partners with workforce needs that match your organization s service capacity, regional trade associations may be helpful in identifying the challenges facing local businesses in particular industries. Chambers of Commerce and public/private economic development agencies also conduct workforce surveys identifying skills, retention, and other challenges faced by specific regional business sectors. Reviewing these reports and conducting informational interviews with workforce, economic development, and trade association representatives can help your organization identify a list of target businesses and sectors. Once you have developed a business hit list, begin by investigating how (and if) their values, capabilities, and levels of conviction align with your own. Many businesses have well-articulated commitments to good corporate citizenship. This may be done through interviews and a review of the websites and financial statements provided by numerous online business research databases (see The best assessment and source of a potential partner, however, may come from another nonprofit that has existing business/employer partnerships with your target business and others. Ask for references. Some key questions will also be useful: Is the business in good financial health? Is the business representative of a sector that is expanding or contracting? Does the business have core needs that a partnership with my organization will address? Does the business have a mission and values that are in line with my organization? Is the firm s business line (the way they make money) in conflict with the mission of my organization? What is the businesses past hiring history with my organization s target population and are there any obstacles that are insurmountable? Does the business have credibility on workforce issues? Are there any past or current business chal-

7 lenges driving the interest in partnership? Is there a business champion for the project? Has senior level leadership bought in? Is the business willing to invest adequate staff and resources in the partnership? 5. What steps should I take while building a partnership? After the initial meeting, a courtship may be needed to identify whether there is truly a good fit. Each side must gain insight into not only program operation and business needs but also how the culture, values, and theories of change contribute to each side s needs. A business may want to conduct due diligence on your organization to determine the extent to which your nonprofit is a leader in its field and has demonstrated results in the past. The courtship process may take longer than expected as each side gets a sense of the other s level of interest and commitment. From the nonprofit perspective, the partnership development may seem to move in fits and starts as business leaders gain internal clearance for a project and identify resources before continuing to work with a nonprofit. Businesses also have a different culture that places less emphasis on process and more on outcomes. Lapses in direct communication may mean that the business is having internal conversations or that employees have been given this special project in addition to their ongoing roles. Persistent, gentle follow-up may be needed to help the partnership move. 6. How can I ensure the partnership is working on an ongoing basis? Setting expectations, goals, and reasonable timeframes early on in the partnership gives both sides of the relationship guideposts for evaluating the partnership. At the outset a memo of understanding should include: A description of the goals of the partnership Measurable targets and deliverables Clearly established roles, responsibilities, timing, and deadlines If a partner is not able, for any reason, to meet expectations, renegotiating the parameters of the partnership is easier if roles are clear from the start. A formal plan for measuring outcomes including mutually defined qualitative and quantitative metrics can help the partnership move beyond anecdotes to real measurement of business-community partnership success. Building in set

8 times for evaluation and opportunities for incorporating feedback is also helpful. When possible, building a continuous partnership improvement process is ideal. In addition to these evaluation methods, each side should regularly ask questions such as: Are both sides communicating what is and isn t working? Are we speaking the same language? Is the partnership meeting both sides needs? Is it achieving meaningful results? Have we explored, measured, and reported both the intended and unintended benefits of the partnership? In time, expanding the partnership beyond the initial champion to multiple levels within the business can strengthen the collaboration. Having multiple layers of business buy-in will help the partnership weather leadership changes. Building a core group of supporters in addition to the initial champions may also open up other venues for adding value to the partnership.»»» Examples of Successful Business Nonprofit Alliances Through a business-education partnership with Hartford-based Southend Community Services, United Parcel Service (UPS) gained access to a dependable stream of young entry-level workers for hard-to-fill, high-turnover positions at their Hartford processing facility. Los Angeles-based Community Development Technology Center (CDTech) works with mostly small and medium sized manufacturing, apparel, and food processing businesses to provide subsidized benefits and asset building programs to employees. Chicago s North Lawndale Employment Network (NLEN) partners with Advocate Hospital Systems to screen and place ex-offenders in maintenance and food service jobs that had a historically high and costly turnover rate.

9 Conclusion Strong business-community partnerships can have a tremendous impact on the economic and social quality of life in the United States. While there is no one way to structure effective business-community partnerships, asking the right initial questions and engaging in continuous learning will strengthen the partnership. Forming and implementing a partnership with business partners that works takes effort, but is similar to forming any partnership. How large or small, what type, or how the business is structured will not predetermine whether the relationship will work. Alignment of business-nonprofit goals, values, and commitment is much more important. Each side of the partnership must invest time and resources to build the partnership in a way that reflects the needs, capacities, and resources of the other. Resources Jobs for the Future ( National Association of Manufacturers ( U.S. Chamber of Commerce ( National Association of Workforce Boards ( National Network of Sector Partnerships ( U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration s Division of One-Stop Operations (www. doleta.gov/usworkforce/onestop) The Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College ( Corporate Voices for Working Families ( Business for Social Responsibility ( This guide was written by Orson Watson, Ph.D. and is based on grantmaking directed by Barbara Dyer and Mark Popovich, President/CEO and Senior Program Officer at the Foundation. An evaluation led by Susan Curnan of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University contributed to the guide s development.

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