Stop Researching Corporate Giving. Start Mapping the Business.
By Dan Drucker | October 16, 2026
You’re working at a nonprofit and tasked with developing some corporate partnerships. Knowing you can’t just randomly reach out to a list of companies, you do your research. And you’re confident about what you’ve come up with, based on each business’ giving priorities, sponsorship guidelines, grant opportunities, CSR budgets and other similar data points.
Do those things matter? Of course.
But they only show a small part of each company.
This is the perfect time to go deeper, and ask, “What does this company have, what does it know, who does it reach, and what does it need that could connect with our mission?”
I’ve shared with nonprofit leaders that businesses have so much more to offer than just money, or a volunteer day. They are incredible ecosystems of interconnected assets, one or many of which could be a critical piece to your organization’s sustainability and your ability to drive change in the communities you serve.
Funding is, and always will be, important. But so are these pieces that companies can possess:
People and expertise
Customers and audiences
Products, technology and infrastructure
Locations and distribution
Networks and convening power
Operational capabilities
Business needs and strategic priorities
Not every company offers every one of these. That’s not the point. A research process focused on corporate giving can easily miss these assets.
Let’s take a look at three examples:
Marina Bay Sands: Don’t Ask What the CSR Department Can Do. Ask What the Business Can Do.
One of the easiest mistakes nonprofits make is treating a company’s community impact function as though it exists separately from the rest of the business.
Marina Bay Sands offers a good example of what happens when that wall comes down.
Its Sands for Singapore Charity Festival has raised millions for local causes, but the more interesting story is how the company generates that impact. Restaurants have contributed proceeds from signature dishes. Employees have assembled thousands of hygiene kits. Nonprofits have been given opportunities to sell products directly to guests. The property itself becomes an event venue. Marketing, technology, hospitality expertise and customer engagement all become part of the effort.
The partnership isn’t drawn from one corporate asset. It’s drawn from the business itself. That distinction matters for smaller nonprofits because it changes the questions they should be asking.
Instead of: Does this company have a grant program?
Try: What does this company already do every day that could help us advance our mission?
A hotel has rooms, event space, guests, restaurants and hospitality expertise. A retailer has stores, customers and distribution. A technology business has platforms, data and technical talent. A manufacturer may have logistics, equipment, suppliers and production capacity.
The opportunity is often hiding in plain sight.
The lesson:
Don’t limit your partnership thinking to the corporate foundation, sponsorship budget or CSR team. Map the business. The more of the company you understand, the more possibilities you can see.
GitLab Foundation: Sometimes Access Is More Valuable Than Another Check
Funding matters. There’s no reason to pretend otherwise.
But sometimes a corporate or philanthropic partner possesses something that can ultimately be worth even more: access.
The GitLab Foundation offers an interesting example. Organizations supported through its AI for Economic Opportunity Fund received funding and technical assistance, but GitLab Foundation also brought nonprofit leaders together with about 200 funders and technology experts to demonstrate their work.
According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Foundation president Ellie Bertani reported that 26 previous grantees had received $30 million in additional grants from other funders.
GitLab Foundation didn’t simply fund work they believed in. They were willing to put their reputation and relationships behind that work.
For a small nonprofit, that can change the equation completely.
A corporate partner may know other funders. Its executives may sit on boards. Its customers may include companies you’ve been trying to reach. Its suppliers, investors and professional advisers may all represent potential relationships.
Those introductions can compound. One conversation leads to another. One advocate creates another advocate. One company lends enough credibility that the next company becomes more willing to listen.
That means nonprofits should occasionally ask a question that may not appear anywhere on a traditional sponsorship menu:
Who could this partner help us meet?
And not just meet but be presented as part of a trusted relationship in which the company genuinely wants the nonprofit to succeed.
The lesson:
A company’s network is an asset. So are its credibility and convening power. When evaluating the potential value of a corporate partner, don’t just ask what it can contribute directly. Ask what doors it might eventually help open.
Home Depot: The Strongest Partnership May Help Solve a Business Problem, Too
A corporate partnership shouldn’t only be about identifying what the company can give the nonprofit.
Sometimes the real opportunity appears when you understand what the company needs.
The Home Depot Foundation’s work around skilled trades is a good example. The company has set an ambitious goal of exposing millions of people to skilled-trades careers, working with nonprofit partners on training, career awareness, scholarships and related programs.
There’s obvious social value. Young people and other participants gain exposure to viable careers and opportunities to build valuable skills. But there’s also obvious business relevance.
Home Depot operates in an ecosystem that depends heavily on electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians, construction professionals and contractors. A shortage of skilled workers isn’t simply a community problem the company happens to care about.
It affects the world in which Home Depot does business. That’s shared value. And it points nonprofits toward a prospecting question that may be more powerful than simply asking which companies support their cause:
Which companies have a genuine business interest in seeing this problem solved?
A workforce-development nonprofit might look at industries struggling to find workers.
An organization helping people with disabilities enter employment might look at companies seeking overlooked talent.
An environmental nonprofit might identify industries facing water, land, waste or supply-chain challenges.
This doesn’t mean contorting your mission to fit a company's business agenda. The overlap has to be real. But when it’s real, the nonprofit is no longer asking for support for something they care about. The conversation can begin with a problem both sides have a reason to solve.
That is a fundamentally different starting point.
The lesson:
Don’t research only where a company gives. Research what it needs, what challenges its industry faces and what success looks like for the business. The strongest partnership fit may exist where a nonprofit’s mission and a company’s legitimate business interests naturally intersect.
All of these examples have a set of questions in common, questions that not many nonprofits are asking today. And these questions, and the following framework, apply just as much to local businesses and smaller companies.
For every prospective partner, follow this framework to map their business:
Click the graphic above to enlarge.
I often talk about the fact that nonprofits should think more about matchmaking and less about ‘pitching’. That last question above turns research into matchmaking.
Much of this concept is a matter of changing how you conduct potential partner research. You’re no longer looking only at financial potential or prior giving. The investigation goes deeper. Look for things like:
· How the company makes money
· Where employees are located
· Who its customers are
· What skills sit inside the workforce
· What major business challenges it faces
· What suppliers or partners surround it
· Where it is expanding
· What it already spends money on
· What community relationships it needs
This information is available on websites, press releases, social media and more. And AI can help with the search, organize information and provide sources for you to review. The data leads to a better picture of which companies would make the best and most complete partners for your organization, in ways you may never have thought of before.
And don’t feel that you must tackle a complete list or all this research at once. Start with one existing sponsor or partner, or a promising prospect. Work through the framework, including where their business overlaps with your mission. See where it leads you. Open the dialogue.
You’re not trying to force the issue here. You shouldn’t have to reinvent your programs. The match, the overlap…must be credible and explainable without stretching the mission or your resources. That’s the signal of a good potential partnership.
It’s normal in the sector to look at businesses and think about what they can give you. But instead, change that mindset and ask what you could build together, what each side has that the other doesn’t, and what becomes possible when those things meet.
Sources:
Marina Bay Sands
GitLab Foundation
Chronicle of Philanthropy: GitLab Hosts Nonprofit AI Demo Day to Woo Investors to Innovation Fund
The Home Depot