Partnerships between corporations and charities have “stepped up” in response to the cost-of-living crisis, a new report reveals.
Data from the consultancy C&E Advisory’s Corporate-NGO Partnerships Barometer 2023 shows that an overwhelming majority of corporates (90 per cent) and nearly all non-profits (97 per cent) report that cost-of-living considerations feature strongly or moderately in their future plans.
The report, which is based on research conducted with 166 charities and companies and is in its 14th year, also found that two-thirds of respondents “identify the need to access hard-to-reach or low-income beneficiaries as a key partnership role”.
It says that this level of response parallels the efforts made by companies and charities during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Manny Amadi, chief executive of C&E Advisory, told Third Sector: “Many worry about what happens when challenges hit; will companies retreat and walk away because they have to worry about securing supply chains and looking after their own staff?
“What we saw at the start of the pandemic was the opposite and it was a moment of truth for purpose-led businesses, with many leaning in and engaging more than ever.
“This same principle was apparent in how they have dealt with the cost-of-living crisis.”
There was also a significant increase in non-profit organisations identifying the need to use their partnerships to better determine the impact of their interventions as very important.
The report also highlighted the potential developing use of AI in corporate partnerships, with 72 per cent of all respondents thinking AI will play an important, or very important, role in research in the year ahead.
Despite this, only 19 per cent of non-profits and 24 per cent of corporations expect to apply AI to partnerships over the year, according to the report.
Amadi said: “We cannot give definitive answers on the future of AI in partnership but if we look in the rearview mirror six months ago, AI was in a completely different place to now because it is developing so fast.
“What is clear is that it will become more important going forward. We want to ascertain in what areas it will be more important in the various dimensions of partnership.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if this time next year there are many more respondents demonstrating the role that AI is playing in their partnerships.”
Amadi does not think that corporates will be using AI to choose potential partners in the immediate future but that it could be used to complete this “research-heavy task” in the long term.
He also highlighted the ethical concerns of AI, saying that organisations need to have “meaningful adult grown-up conversations” about its future implementation.
C&E also said the partnership between Tesco, Cancer Research UK, the British Heart Foundation and Diabetes UK was the “>most-admired” this year, as voted for by survey respondents.