Let’s face it. One of the most difficult parts of forging a sustainable coalition between corporate and philanthropic actors is agreeing on a vision of success and how to measure it.
One agribusiness client was eager to work with philanthropy on scaling regenerative agriculture with smallholder farmers in their supply chain. In the VP’s view, the company had shown how regen ag could reduce Scope 3 emissions, which should be important to foundations working in climate change. Yet “scope 3 emissions” are not a KPI for philanthropy. Many foundations working in climate change are focused on energy, infrastructure, or policy advocacy. Meanwhile, foundations focused on smallholder farmers were more often seeking outcomes around farmer income. How could our client square this circle?
What the boss wants…
C-suite leaders demand that sustainability pros offer up a business case to show either topline growth or cost efficiencies. Meanwhile, foundation boards and directors demand that grants contribute directly to set theories of change and existing impact metrics.
These are not diametrically opposed needs. Rather, pleasing both audiences requires flexibility of thinking, translation between corporate and philanthropic “languages,” and a willingness to meet each other halfway.
As a corporate sustainability and impact pro, you need to become fluent in multiple organizational languages to act as translator between the business and philanthropic worlds.
Crafting a Strong Value Proposition for a different audience
Be prepared to be met with skepticism. You need to demonstrate your company’s depth of commitment to shared goals with foundation partners. How have you already invested in this space? What milestones have you achieved?
Show how the foundation’s issues connect to your core business strategy. Foundations trust partners whose sustainability commitments align with business imperatives. This shows that they won’t bolt at the first sign of economic downturn. Foundations need to know you're serious about the issues you claim to care about—not just checking ESG boxes.
Our agribusiness client had embedded sustainability within their incentive structure across the business—VPs had impact targets alongside their P&L. Sharing this showed the depth of their commitment to foundations and helped open doors.
Highlight Your Unique Capabilities and Resources
Focus on assets that directly solve foundation challenges. Foundations pilot promising interventions but often struggle to scale them. Your operational footprint and capabilities can change that equation.
Be specific about who you can reach and how. "We work with 50,000 smallholder farmers across East Africa" matters more than “we work with farmers around the world.” Describe your scale in concrete terms.
Highlight the proprietary tools, platforms, or data that can be leveraged. Maybe you've developed supply chain traceability systems. Or collected market data across emerging economies. Or built a digital platform that reaches rural populations. Foundations can leverage these assets for social impact.
What specialized knowledge do you have in-house? Engineering capabilities. Manufacturing expertise. Extension Services. Vendor financing, Logistics management. Be specific and make a clear connection between these capabilities and the issues at hand.
Show how partnership strengthens your business.
Don't neglect the impact story. Articulate the impact you want to achieve together using development language and frameworks. Connect your business outcomes to the foundation’s desired impact outcomes. The strongest partnerships create value neither party could achieve alone. While you may need to make a business case internally, foundations care about the social and environmental results you can deliver.
That said, foundations understand you're a for-profit company, so be transparent about business benefits you expect. Supplier resilience. Risk mitigation. Innovation testing. Market development. When you're honest about business incentives and metrics for success, foundations trust you more.
What to Expect From Private Foundations
DO Expect Skepticism About Greenwashing
Credibility is key for foundations. Partnering with an insincere corporate actor could damage their standing with target audiences, governments, and other partners. Expect extensive due diligence on your track record. Foundations will talk to your critics.
Acknowledge where you've fallen short previously. Explain what you've learned and how you're improving. Foundations respect organizations that admit imperfection but demonstrate commitment to progress.
DON’T Expect Direct Funding
Philanthropy rarely gives grants to for-profit multinational corporations. This should be obvious, but it trips up many corporate teams. Direct grantmaking to large for-profit companies is exceedingly rare and generally limited to R&D of new products (e.g., malaria vaccines, drought resistant seeds).
Foundations exist partly to address market failures where traditional sources of capital are hard to access. Your company already has (assumedly), access to credit. Philanthropy is far more likely to fund NGOs or civil society organizations who will work alongside your company on mutual goals rather than fund you directly.
DO Prepare for Different Timelines
Private enterprise moves faster than philanthropy. Most foundations make grant decisions quarterly or semi-annually. Plan for 9-12 months from initial conversation to formal partnership launch.
Foundations will likely need to conduct due diligence, consult stakeholders, and ensure community alignment. "Move fast and break things" is not the foundation worldview.
Don’t let uncertainty stop you
Unless you’re Winston Churchhill, you probably aren’t going to forge new partnerships overnight. Be patient and seek help if you need it.
Download our Guide to Cross Sector Collaboration, or reach out to schedule a consultation with our team of partnership experts. We can help you:
- Identify potential partners and broker connections
- Develop approaches to multi-stakeholder initiatives and pre-competitive industry collaborations
- Conduct internal readiness assessments to ensure your company can partner successfully
It takes two to tango, so get your dancing shoes on and let’s get moving.
Resonance is an award-winning sustainability and impact advisory firm, working with leading companies, governments, and philanthropies to deliver impact and advance sustainable prosperity for all.
