If it feels like the sky is falling, purse those lips and get ready to kiss the stars. Because whether it is, or it isn’t, your response will create your reality.

Here we reveal more stats from the awesome McCrindle/Cint[1] research study addressing How Australians are responding to COVID-19 and our interpretation for changemakers.

If you want to understand business confidence, look to consumers. Their feelings, confidence and buying behaviours are excellent indicators of how quickly companies will bounce back.

In March, 45% of Australians were feeling anxious in response to the unfolding pandemic, but in June, interestingly, the amount of those feeling anxious fell to 38%. As we look to establish new societal norms, a sense of hope has increasingly returned (from 27% in March to 35% in June).

The biggest impact has been social - far above the financial, mental, or physical impact. 42% believe COVID-19 has negatively impacted them socially, while 28% have been negatively...

There’s always an opportunity on the other side of a crisis, it all depends where you look. A fascinating research study landed on my desk recently from McCrindle/Cint[1], addressing How Australians are responding to COVID-19.

Here’s my interpretation of the data as it relates to changemakers who are considering partnering with corporates. All stats are from the McCrindle research unless otherwise stated.

Whilst COVID-19 completely blind-sided almost everyone (aside from those in epidemiology) Australians have emerged resilient, generous, and for the most part, hopeful.

Unemployment – and underemployment[2] - has increased during COVID-19 from 5.2% in March to 6.2% in April (the latest stats show unemployment at 7.4% in June [3]).

Healthwise, older Australians are more at risk from the virus impacting their health. But it’s younger Australians who have felt it most economically - in terms of job losses, financial impact and mental health.

This means that for...

I grew up in a family surrounded by a lot of woo woo.  My Auntie was a medium (tv fame no less) and every weekend as my dad drooled over the Page 3 girl in the Daily Mirror, my mum and I would salivate over the horoscope predictions.  When I entered the world of marketing & PR, I began to understand the role that data played in decision making, and I learned that just because you believe something, doesn’t make it true.  And then I met (and married) a hardened sceptic, so now I question everything!

There’s one thing that I know to be true however which, until now, hasn’t been proven.  It’s known as ‘gut feeling’ or ‘intuition’.  Ever since I started living independently at aged 16, I always consulted my gut on big life decisions.  It’s rarely betrayed me, aside from perhaps boys, but I blame hormones for that!

I’ve built ‘gut feel’ into several of my business processes and in...

We’re now two months into our program and I thought you might find it valuable for me to share some of the key takeaways I’ve learned whilst completing the Modules along with the students.

For those who don’t know, I (Georgia) have been the Chief Transitioner, bringing Hailey’s incredible tried & tested process into an online format.  I’ve been creating the ‘best practice’ outputs for each Module for the students to follow. Doing this has given me a deep and illuminating insight into how the process works and I've been able to share my personal experience (pitfalls and all) with the students before they begin each Module.

Here’s what I have to say about the first two exercises – the Intention and the SWOTA.

Intention

When changemakers decide to partner with corporates they tend to miss the first critical steps and jump right into prospecting…asking their Board for contacts (we’ve written about why this...

The Board has legal obligations to ensure your organisation is fulfilling its purpose, remains solvent, meets obligations and will ultimately be responsible for dealing with any ramifications from a corporate partnership.  Therefore, it’s imperative that you have Board sign off prior to ‘going to market’.

In my experience many Board members, even those that have previously worked in the corporate sector, are not specialists in corporate partnerships and may not realise the complexities involved. It’s your job to educate them.

It’s vital to explain that it’s not as simple as providing their contacts for you to call, and it’s not about sending out 30 proposals on email.  When you negotiate a legally-binding agreement with a corporate partner it could ultimately impact your level of awareness (which in some instances, can put immense pressure on a service), provide access to new donors, set a precedent for how much you are willing to...

Although the road ahead is going to be challenging, we all know that it’s vital that changemakers adopt an abundance mindset if they intend to pursue corporate partnerships. I’ve always thought it very strange that the For-Purpose sector defines itself by what it’s NOT – it’s why I prefer to use terms like ‘For Purpose’ and ‘Changemakers’ because Not For Profit just sounds so, well, demeaning.

Successful corporates and brands have a positive, can-do attitude, and innovation inevitably flows. A Collaboration, Big Picture Thinking, Risk Embracing approach is in their DNA. This is often called Abundance Thinking or the Abundance Mindset.

There’s a whole world of psychology behind this, and it’s fascinating. The opposite of Abundance Thinking is Scarcity Thinking. Bushfires, Corona and looming recession aside, what is typically your organisation’s culture and default thinking – is it Abundance or Scarcity?

...

My favourite science communicator Carl Sagan once said “somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known”.  Market research, a little like marketing & branding, is vital to corporates and brands but its often considered a luxury by non-profit management.

Non-profits, like companies, exist to solve a problem.  How can you solve a problem if you don’t understand it?  How do you enrol donors if you don’t understand their motivations?  And how do you make a compelling pitch to corporates without verifiable statistics to back up what you’re saying?

Corporates live and breathe market research, for them it’s a necessity not a nicety. Long gone are the days of expensive research, so there’s no excuse for NOT becoming a research ninja!

Research
A key element about doing research is to ensure that its conducted in a credible and professional manner (otherwise it won’t be taken seriously by management or indeed...

My dear friend Susan Ryan, a brilliant artist and business coach, said this to me in the early days of Cavill + Co. It became a favourite saying, one that my students loved.

But like all sayings, it took me experiencing it to truly get it. One day, I had several deadlines to meet and I’d made a promise to my man, Tyrone, that I’d finish on time (for once) and we’d cook dinner together. We both run our own businesses, so quality time together is scarce. Stupidly, I answered the telephone which involved long, unnecessary conversations with persistent salespeople - basically frittering away my day. Because I’d made commitments to clients and firm deadlines, I simply had to complete my work. This meant that I wasn’t finished when Tyrone got home and yet again, I’d broken a commitment to spend quality time with him. In that moment, I ‘got it’.

I’d put all these relatively unimportant people and tasks ahead of the most important person...

The BePartnerReady.com® program guides you through 7 critical steps as you implement them within your organisation and move closer to success. In Part 1 – blog we covered step 1: SWOTA) and Step 2: Assets Inventory and Valuation. Here we cover the remaining steps 3-7.

Before beginning the process it’s important to understand what precisely you want from a corporate partner.  There’s more to a partner than just funding – download this infographic detailing the 7 benefits of a corporate partnership.

If you would like to discover what a corporate partner could mean for you and your organisation, sneak into our program before 1 July to create your Corporate Partnership Intention 

Our process enables you to gift-wrap programs/campaigns/events for sponsorship (giving you ‘tied’ funding) but also package up partnerships, which invariably provide significant ‘untied’ funding.  It’s flexible enough to...

DOWNLOAD INFOGRAPHIC HERE 

It’s no secret that winning corporate partnerships is challenging, especially now with a recession on our doorstep. Failing to secure a partner after months of hard work is one thing. Securing the wrong partner – that can result in over-servicing, staff burn-out or even a damaged reputation.

The needs of your community will be immense, and you’ll be asked to Do More in a myriad of different ways. You’re going to need the support of the Business and Corporate sector. However, they are going to want to partner with progressive, impactful, purpose-driven organisations in mutually beneficial partnerships – there will be no room - or spare cash - for handouts in 2021.

No matter how clever, connected, or hard-working you are, there’s one monumental thing standing between you and success –your state of readiness.

We make a BIG thing of readiness, it’s why it’s in our name, because it’s the...