NGO-business alliances: partners, sponsors or donors? : A multiple case study

Why do NGOs and companies form a relationship and how, if at all do they implement it in order to create value? These are central questions that are addressed in this paper, and the answers are sought by taking a closer look at the perspectives of six companies and six NGOs. Such a focus is further seen as crucial in order to determine whether a partnership, a sponsorship or a donation is found best equipped to deliver the desired type of value to both parts. The case analysis reveals that donations are seen to be least desirable from both the NGOs and the companies’ perspectives, and none of the relationships as they are practiced are either that of a passive donor-recipient. This is both because the companies' motives can not be seen as purely altruistic, but also because the NGOs in all cases deliver a varying degree of services back in return for access to the company’s mainly financial resources. These return services range from access to logo and profiling activities to strategic advice with regards to the company’s core business context, and are seen as key in order to create value to both company and NGO. Although access to funds are found to be a central motive for all but one NGO, they all clearly see that creating long-term value for themselves is dependent on also creating value for the companies. This again explains their focus on delivering return services. Placing a value on such services, including the value of the different NGOs brands, is identified as a considerable challenge however. The extent to which there has been an extensive two-way exchange of core competencies rather than the company contributing with funds primarely, is central in order to determine whether a relationship will belong in the transactional sponsorship or integrative partnership category. A partnership is found to be practiced in at least two of the cases, but none can be seen to fully match the traits of a partnership as outlined in theory. While the rhetorical focus of all NGOs are on partnerships and cooperation agreements, the cases show that the likelihood of a sudden boom of true partnerships as defined in theory happening anytime soon, is minimal