New Partnering Opportunities for the Nonprofit Sector

Consumers are demanding that corporations practice social responsibility. In order to meet this demand and keep their activist stockholders satisfied that they are still focused on profit and dividends, many corporations have established foundations that operate separately from the company. The foundations provide grants to nonprofits that can help the corporations fulfill their social responsibility, but, unlike prior philanthropic programs, these grants are based on developing partnerships with nonprofits that share the corporations’ social mission. There is also a group of smaller companies that nonprofits can partner with, the Benefit Corporation, as well as a new certification called the B Corps certification that identifies a business as having a social purpose even though it is registered as a regular corporation. These two groups can partner with local and small nonprofits to achieve their shared social purposes in terms of identifying people in need of their goods and services, delivering them to underserved communities, and hiring and training to meet diversity goals. These partnerships can help nonprofits remain viable in a changing economic landscape