Corporate sponsors
Plans and results for 2012
More than 19% of War Child’s direct fundraising comes from companies: € 2,238,000 (including actions by companies). War Child managed to grow in income from companies by 22% compared to 2011. Growth was seen both in structural and in incidental donations. This can be seen as a great achievement in this very challenging economic situation. Most companies have to deal with the effects of the economic downturn; it has become more difficult to attract new sponsors and to keep them satisfied. Companies tend to focus more on profit rather than branding or Corporate Social Responsibility.
In 2012 War Child’s companies department focused on acquisition to be able to grow in structural income. We strive toward partnerships that consist of structural financial support and include ways to involve employees. Other plans for 2012 were to attract at least one new Business Partner, a company that structurally supports War Child with € 25,000 or more per year, to strengthen the Business Ambassador Network, and improve sales force in the acquisition of actions, especially for ‘538 for War Child’.
Our focus on finding new partners and targeting SMEs resulted in:
- Our main sponsor and Business Partner T-Mobile renewing the contract for another 2 years and raising more than € 73,000 through their Loyalty Campaign;
- 121 Business Friends from the SMEs that prove to be very loyal;
- More than € 220,000 raised by Microsoft employees through their ‘Kili Explorer’ initiative.
Business Partners and Business Ambassador Network
T-Mobile, ASN Bank, Microsoft and Feyenoord continued their partnerships with War Child. We were very pleased to add three new Business Partners (World Ticket Centre, OHRA and Tommy Hilfiger) to our list of structural partners. The War Child Business Ambassadors Network grew to 27 companies, contributing 12% of War Child’s revenue from companies. The network is an opportunity for companies to build a close relationship with War Child and take part in an interesting business network
SME pilot Business Friends
A fundraising pilot, in collaboration with an external agency, raised 121 Business Friends from the SME segment, which represents a total value of € 360,000. Unfortunately the planned goal of 210 new Business Friends was not reached. It turned out to be more difficult than expected to get a contract signed. War Child agreed on a ‘no cure, no pay’ basis, so no extra costs were made. In the first year there were no cancellations at all, which proved that the companies who became Business Friend are very loyal.
Incidental
The number of incidental gifts has decreased again. Nevertheless, War Child received incidental donations of € 10,000 or more from 6 companies. Also in 2012, the T-Mobile Loyalty programme raised over € 73,000, twice the expectation. Because it is difficult to influence incidental gifts, we are very pleased that there are still companies (old and new Friends of War Child) that give financial support in this way. There were also companies that organised an action to raise funds for War Child. A great example is the initiative of 3 Microsoft employees who wanted to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for War Child. In September 50 Microsoft employees and a few Microsoft partners climbed Kilimanjaro and raised the enormous amount of € 220,000. Most of the other actions organised by companies were set up around ‘538 for War Child’.
Lessons learned
- We realised that raising Business Friends in the SME segment is much harder than we thought. Therefore we will revise this SME approach and look for alternatives in 2013.
- It takes much more time than it did a few years ago to attract new corporate partners and to keep them satisfied. Furthermore, partners expect more and more in return for their donation or partnership. War Child will need to adapt its activities in 2013.
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