Corporate-NGO partnerships in CSR activities: why and how?

This article describes, analyzes, and explains the emergence of partnerships between corporations and non- governmental organizations (NGOs) and the ways in w hich corporations use such relationships as part of thei r corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Economics concepts and the management literature are reviewed, and illustratio ns are provided to describe such alliances and to explain their exp ansion. The findings show that firms engage in CSR for altruist ic, defensive, and strategic reasons. The role of NGOs in these ac tivities, as well as the related risks for both types of partners, is also explained and studied. NGOs are identified to have fundraising, s takeholder, and strategic functions in corporate-NGO partnerships. The findings also show that the main risks for NGOs, namely, a l oss of credibility and legitimacy and their consequences, are related to the financial and existential dependency created by cor porate-NGO partnerships