The challenge of charity partnership

Partnerships with large companies can make a big difference to charities. But should there be a better way of choosing which charity to support?

While having a charity of the year can be a very beneficial and worthwhile venture for both the company and the charity, so many smaller and less emotive charities lose out that it would surely make more sense to let individuals chose their own charity.

Being chosen as charity of the year by big companies means big rewards for the relevant charity but the vast majority of charities in the UK never become anyone’s charity of the year. They are too small, too unfashionable, don’t have enough regional branches or fail to match the corporate brief in some other way.

The competition to be chosen as a charity of the year, particularly by the major UK companies, is intense. There is a good reason for this as the rewards can be huge. Tesco’s chosen charity for 2008 was Marie Curie Cancer Care and they raised £6.1m, which will allow far more people to end their life at home. The Tesco Charity Trust added £500,000 to existing monies raised. This year, Tesco has chosen the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign this year and hopes to raise £3m.  Click here to read the rest of the article.