Missions to Movements

“How Can We Be Expansive Together?” The Future of Nonprofit Partnerships with United Way's Matthew Sutton

• Dana Snyder • Episode 220

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If a corporate partner had to tell a story about working with your nonprofit, what would they say? 

What companies want from nonprofit partnerships has FUNDAMENTALLY changed. That’s why I’m excited for you to meet a great friend of mine, Matthew Sutton, Director of Corporate Partnerships at United Way of Greater Atlanta, to talk about how corporate partnerships are evolving and what nonprofit leaders need to understand right now. 

Matthew shares why companies are going deeper with fewer partners, why a multi-layer approach matters, and how nonprofits can become collaborators in a shared narrative.

We’re digging into real-world examples too, including a 24-month relationship-building process, and the growing role of social enterprise as nonprofits look for more predictable revenue.


Resources & Links

Connect with Matthew on LinkedIn or send him an email at matthewsutton2018@gmail.com. 

Check out Matthew’s book recommendations, including my book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, and Beyond Checks & Halos by Cynthia Eads Currence.

LettrLabs is the proud presenter of Missions to Movements.

LettrLabs helps nonprofits build lasting donor relationships through real, handwritten mail that’s fully automated - turning moments of intent into meaningful connection. From thank-yous to impact updates, they help you cut through with mail donors actually open, remember, and trust.

Register now for the FREE Monthly Giving Summit on February 25-26th, the only virtual event where nonprofits unite to master monthly giving, attract committed believers, and fund the future with confidence.

The Mini Monthly Giving Mastermind: A high-touch Mini Mastermind + optional in-person retreat (May 6-8) for nonprofit leaders that have an existing monthly giving program and ready to take it to the next level with 1:1 and peer support. Apply now!

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SPEAKER_01:

Today's episode is one I've been especially excited to share. It was filmed and recorded in studio in Atlanta, Georgia, right before the new year. And I am joined by Matthew Sutton, who works at United Way, where partnerships definitely are not just a line item. They are central to how impact happens over there. Matthew spends his days thinking about how organizations and companies and communities come together in ways that are truly meaningful, resilient, and built to last. And what makes this conversation extra special for me is that Matthew and I serve together on the board of YNPN Atlanta, that is Young Nonprofit Professionals Network Atlanta, for the past two years, where I've had a really front row seat to see how thoughtfully he approaches relationship building, always asking not just what's possible, but who's missing and how can we really be more expansive together. So in this episode, we are going to dig into how partnerships are really evolving as we are in now a new year, why transactional relationships are really breaking down, and what nonprofits of any size can do to position themselves as a valuable partner. Even without big budgets or name recognition, I know I say united way, and you might be like, that's not me. But we were really going to explore the growing role of social enterprise and how you as an organization can monetize maybe what you're already doing without compromising mission, especially when the right partnerships are in place. So if you've ever felt stuck in an asked first mindset or wondered how to build relationships that really sustain your work long term, this conversation will stretch your thinking in the best way possible. Let's get into it.

SPEAKER_02:

Companies have gone from supporting a very wide range of nonprofits to becoming a little bit more center-focused on what's important to the business, what are the values of the employees, how are we showing up with those values to our consumers through our nonprofit partnerships. So they're going from three miles wide, one inch deep, to a mile wide, three feet deep. Really expanding their relationships with their nonprofit partners into other areas of that nonprofit work, but really being intentional about how they connect and touch and feel the impact of that work.

SPEAKER_01:

Hey, my name is Dana Snyder, host of Missions to Movements. I'm so glad you're here. And today you get to meet a great friend of mine, Matthew Sutton. We originally met through YNPN Atlanta. So if you do happen to be in the Atlanta area and want to find a nonprofit community, please come check us out. But Matthew is here in his formal work attire-ish today to be able to talk to us about corporate partnerships as the director of corporate partnerships for United Way. And I have just been so impressed over the past two years being on the board together and watching you work, watching you lead our board. And so I was like, okay, I just need to get him to come in to share some of this knowledge with listeners. So therefore, Matthew, welcome.

SPEAKER_02:

No, thank you for having me. And ditto right back to you as well. You know, I think the unique experience of being on YMP and together is learning all different ways to approach donors, corporate partners, and just relationship building in general. So, no, I've been very excited about this conversation and have learned a lot from you, whether it be monthly giving masterminds. And so we've brought a lot of that relationship building techniques and skills into the work that we're doing at United Way. So I'm excited for our conversation today.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. How did, and I don't know this backstory, so I'm learning for the first time too. How did you come into your now sixth-year role at United Way?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, so much like most nonprofit folks, you know, the journey is not one shape fits all, if you will. So I actually, before United Way was working at an all-boy summer camp, you know, I got an opportunity to see what happens when you build an environment of positivity and encouragement, but more so when a group of diverse thinkers comes together on one common goal, really, what can be made possible. And that was on the micro scale, right? You know, it was about 350 people at a time, age range. And so I knew I wanted to take that to the macro scale. I always knew I wanted a career in service. I wanted an opportunity where it was not just a paycheck that was coming back to me, but there was this community-building aspect of my career. And when I was leaving Falling Creek Camp, the United Way of Greater Land Opportunity was available. And I actually, somewhat like an internship. If you're familiar with United Way, we do a lot of employee giving. And so what I got to do was I got to work on those employee giving campaigns. So one day I could be meeting with nuclear engineers in the morning at Impo. And then the next would be, you know, an afternoon with teachers at the Cobb County School District. And through that, I think I got to see how really diverse industries looked at creating community change, at creating positive impact in the community. And I loved that. I fell in love with that type of work and that type of relationship building. And so from there, I kind of evolved a little bit. You know, I went from employee giving campaigns to really now, over the last four years, focusing specifically on corporate partnerships. What do our organizations do together to create that change, that impact?

SPEAKER_01:

So which I'm sure has changed a lot.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, drastically.

SPEAKER_01:

Drastically. Which I think is a really interesting like precipice to the start of a year. How have you seen in your role with corporate partnerships, how have things evolved, changed in, I was gonna say over maybe the past four years, but maybe even more past six months to a year? What are you seeing in your role be very different than maybe it was before?

SPEAKER_02:

So if we go back to COVID, you know, COVID really changed the structure of corporate giving. And because I think that was a time where people were really looking to organizations, to community leaders to say, okay, hey, we don't really have a solution to this problem. It's kind of popped up on us. You know, I always say it this way if you walked into a school or if you walked into the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in December 2019 and said, Hey, in four months, no one will be here. Right. No kids are coming into school, no concerts, no games, no travel, people would look at you sideways. Like, what are you thinking? And so I think at that time there was this ecosystem development of, okay, what can we do in the emergency and really providing that emergency support? But on the like I I guess the deeper side of that is how do we start to build proactive preventative measures of when this may happen again? And not necessarily that it'll be a pandemic, but when challenges like this do arise that and are outfitted. Unexpected, exactly. What are these investment strategies that we can really start looking at? Where do we see gaps being created during times like these? And how can we kind of build a safety net for those? And so I think from there that changed and shifted a lot of people's focus on how they looked, especially corporations, you know, that even changed where they were investing, how they were investing. I think even beyond that, it became a lot more business aligned. If we're going to be making these investments in the community, if we're going to be partnering, truly partnering with nonprofit partners, one, those should look similar to our for-profit partners. Our partnerships should look very similar to collaborations. You know, when when Lego collaborates with Marvel and they're co-branding things out in the community, they're telling a story together. Well, our nonprofit partnerships should look and have a similar feel and touch as those do as well. Totally. And so I think the biggest things that we've seen shift is companies have gone from supporting a very wide range of nonprofits to becoming a little bit more center focused on what's important to the business, what are the values of the employees, how are we showing up with those values to our consumers through our nonprofit partnerships? So they're going from three miles wide, one inch deep, to a mile wide, three feet deep. Yeah. Really expanding their relationships with their nonprofit partners into other areas of that nonprofit work, but really being intentional about how they connect and touch and feel the impact of that work. And so impact reporting has become much more intensive, intentional on the front end. You know, they really want to understand if we're going to be putting this money, and I think COVID, you can look at the last 20 years of giving, and COVID certainly spiked, and we're starting to see that come back down to a pretty median level. But I think the question we get asked most often, even coming out of COVID, is like, okay, we put all this money into the community, we put all this money into your organization. What needle did we move together? Right. What happened with it? So I think that is a big change that organizations are going to have to become a lot more proactive about is how are we telling the story of the impact of this partnership together?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. On the forefront, when the partnership, the meetings are happening and you're figure-to-handshaking, you're figuring out if there's going to be a relationship there, when you're talking about the organizations are going deeper and maybe looking at less, how does that make your job more difficult in finding the right partners and then really developing something that is resilient and rooted in depth? Because I'm sure that takes a lot longer to potentially close.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

So, how has that evolved too in your role in being more creative and finding those partners that are really in it for a long-term relationship?

SPEAKER_02:

It is a tricky process that you cannot rush. So, so many times as an organization, you want to get to that transaction because that's what you're there, right? Especially as a nonprofit fundraiser, or, you know, if you're in that development chair and you're really building that relationship, you're gonna have an annual goal that you have to hit. And that's understandable. But the partnerships that really go deep and that are sustainable, they take time. It is building trust. I mean, I always say it your first 90 days is very similar to dating, right? You wouldn't go on a first date and ask someone to marry you. They'd be like, oh wow, this is okay. You're a little, you're a little pushy here. You really have to get to know each other. You have to get to understand not just the company, but the person within the company that you're dealing with. Who are those decision makers, but even who are their circle of influence? You know, what's the ecosystem around that company, around that individual that is influencing the decision making at that company? And through that process, what we have come to find, and I'll, you know, it's kind of a funny story, if you will, is you always build a space for creative thinking. And hey, you know, the company will be pretty open with you and transparent about, oh, we've never really thought about a partnership like that. That comes after building a lot of trust, coming back with ideas, being open to their feedback that, you know, you're gonna have to compromise on a few things. You may have to you may have to change the delivery of a certain part of a program that aligns back to you know some of their goals and some of their strategies. But I think most of all, when we are sitting in those meetings and when you're sitting in with those, it's really important to listen, listen, listen, listen, listen. And on the front end, do your research. Right. A lot of times, if you can just show a corporation, if you can show an individual that, hey, before I've come and met with you, I've done a plethora of research on what your company, I know exactly the value proposition here. And that shows them right away, okay, this person's willing to spend time on me. This person's willing to build trust with me because they may not get anything out of this meeting too.

SPEAKER_01:

And you can present some ideas that are already along the lines of something that they might be interested in, or a marketing campaign that's coming or happening, or I think you're saying, and I want to be thoughtful about this, you're at an organization that is very well known. Sure. It's very established, and I'm sure with that comes open doors to have conversations easier than maybe some of the listeners might have. Absolutely. So, what would be your recommendations, your ideas for organizations of any size to really thoughtfully position themselves as valuable partners, even if they don't have the bigger budgets or the bigger teams or the national, international programming that may be?

SPEAKER_02:

No, and and you're absolutely right. And so I'll share this. You know, in my role at United Way of Greater Atlanta, we are mostly focused on new partnerships. So there is a level of they don't have a relationship with United Way. Certainly they understand the name, but a lot of times they may also have a perception of your organization already. True. Right. And I think as we look at even organizations that we partner with, where we have partners that we kind of say, hey, you know, we don't really do that, or that's not a fit for us, but we do have this partner over here that does that very uniquely well. And making that connection is important. So I would say relationships with funders are important, but your relationships within the ecosystem are also very, very important. So cross-sector relationships, being able to say, hey, you know, I think sometimes no can be one of the most powerful answers you can give a funder.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my gosh. Okay, wait. You have to go into the story. So we were at a YNPN headshot event that we host every year, pretty much. And you were sitting down with Michelle.

SPEAKER_02:

Michelle Blondheim, yep, is the executive director of the Aprio Foundation. So, no, I think the story you're you're referencing is that relationship actually started with a no. I got an email that I was running employee giving campaigns at that time, and I got an email from Michelle that they were no longer going to be doing the employee giving campaign with United Way. Yeah, that they were gonna be changing the way that their company looked at community investments. They were gonna be restructuring the foundation. And that provided a blank canvas. And I think at the time I was very nervous, of course, because I was managing, you know, I was managing that revenue. And I thought, okay, well, there goes.

SPEAKER_01:

Who hasn't been nervous, right?

SPEAKER_02:

Exactly, exactly. And I think a lot of times when you get that no, it can be very disheartening, right? It's like, oh, we just put in all this time, all this work. We've been partnered with them for 25 years plus at that time. You're like, I'm the one that's gonna make this. And I, yeah, and I'm the one that messed this up, you know? And and but I think, and and this is what I would encourage, even as we're talking about nonprofits that maybe don't have that brand awareness or brand presence, like a United Way or a large organization. The first thing we did is I said, Well, I'd love to just go get coffee. I don't know you. You know, we we don't really know each other yet. And I just want to get to know who you are. Forget Aprio for a second, forget United Way for a second. And so let's really get to know one another. Let's get to know what drives each other, what our goals are. And I think the most important thing to mention there as well, if you are a nonprofit that you feel your brand presence is a barrier to become to entry with funders, show up at places funders are. And I don't just mean a nonprofit conference, a nonprofit panel. If you know that the chief product officer at XYZ company is a supporter of your organization or is a supporter of a like organizations of what you do, and they're speaking on a panel about product development, go to it. Go to that, make sure that they know that you were there, you know, because if you can come in the follow-up and say, hey, you know, I didn't get a chance to run into you, or maybe we did get a chance to speak, but I really appreciated what you shared about you how you approach product development timelines or managing your team. Just that little nugget alone shows them that wow, this person's already shown up for me. They already understand what I care deeply about. Yeah, I'm willing to give you 30 minutes to hear about what we could possibly do together.

SPEAKER_01:

And if you can't be in the room, a way that I've counter kind of acted this is just start being present on their social channels. Yes. If they have a LinkedIn presence and they are posting things, have a thoughtful comment.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

Not crazy, like every single one all the time. Don't be creepy. Don't be creepy, but like a thoughtful every once in a while. You can set alerts to get a specific person's every post. Yep. You can also read about what they're then interested in. I think that's a digital version of a way to kind of slide in if you can't make it to an event that they're at.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely. And and I'd say this is something that I've taken from you as well as the monthly giving mastermind, a lot of the work that you do, I think is is brilliant. That email outreach, that first initial outreach that you do, don't rush that. If you don't know why you would want to meet with them, but you know they have money and you want to meet with them because they have money, that's not a reason to have that meeting, right? Actually, there was a gentleman on your podcast, and I'm blanking on their name, but I'll certainly go back and find it, that I thought had a really good email format. And the email format was name your intention, right? Have a really clever, you know, subject line that gets them to open it. But then right away, show them that you understand what they do uniquely well. And then establish what you think you can do together or what you'd like to explore together. Totally. And then keep that brief. You know, I think so many times nonprofits want to go in with the kitchen sink. These are all the things we do. We can do all of these things together. I'll do that. It's an onion. It's an onion. Yeah. Find out the first layer of the onion that you can do together. Show that you can have a successful relationship, that you can be impactful together. And then as that relationship evolves, you'll peel back that onion a little bit. And that's when you start to go deeper. Now, this is when you have a funder that's not just investing in one program, but they're investing in three and three different areas of their company. So you're also building advocacy within their company as well.

SPEAKER_01:

Which goes right back to the point with Michelle. They sat down, they did this little fireside chat together, going back to the no that then turned into how many years later did it turn into a partnership that actually 24 months.

SPEAKER_02:

It was a 24-month development. We created an entrepreneurship program together.

SPEAKER_01:

So a no to employee giving. Yep. You sat down, you had coffee.

SPEAKER_02:

So yeah, we would have had coffee in 2021. So it was right, you know, coming out of out of COVID. And then we were building a few ideas together. So I, you know, I went to Michelle with, hey, I've got a few ideas, you know. And so you want to have more than just one, you know, one idea, right? You you want to say, okay, these are the areas of your business that I understand and I think align back to us. What are your thoughts? And get their thoughts, and they'll tell you. They will tell you. The one thing that a lot of people love to give is advice and and feedback.

SPEAKER_01:

For sure.

SPEAKER_02:

Take it because now that tells you exactly what you can return with. And so that's that's how that happened. That was about 24 months of meeting, building a new.

SPEAKER_01:

You want equal excitement.

SPEAKER_02:

Exactly. Exactly. That really is the whole, I would say, formula, success formula. We kind of say it this way: I never want to be the one that walks in the proposal. I want so with Michelle, we built that proposal or that funding request with Michelle. And she was the one that then said, we've got to do this. You know, this is something we have to be involved in. So that goes back to the circle of, you know, really understanding the circle of influence, really understanding who the key decision makers are and who can be your advocates within that company. You don't want just one, right? Because then what happens when they leave? That's right. CSR directors leave all the time. They go, they find new opportunities. Again, priorities change and shift. And so meet the person that you need to meet, but then start to look at the entire company of who are advocates within this company that I can start to build relationships with. So it's not just one or two friends. I've got five that are saying, hey, we really should do something with this organization. They're pretty unique and special.

SPEAKER_01:

When you did that partnership together, was there anything internally in their employee side that was like a celebration or acknowledgement so that they did know that it was happening with you, that they could help meet other people in the organization? Like how was that facilitated?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. So that was a big key of the partnership in general. And I think anybody that's looking at corporate partnerships, you want to think about it in a multi-layer approach. It can't just be a transactional and investment. How are their employees going to touch and feel? Because ultimately that's also what they're going to want to talk about. And one of the things that we really needed for this program is we didn't know anything about accounting for a business. And Aprio, that's what they do on a day-to-day basis. And they were looking for skills-based opportunities for their staff at that time. Okay. And so we actually worked with them to build the curriculum for the workshops that we would be providing to entrepreneurs. So again, that was a team sport. They built a frankly if I could be pretty direct, college level curriculum that we delivered over three workshops, but it was all driven by their employees, by their associates.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

And so we looked at that as Michelle was the starting point, but then Michelle brought her team together. There was the Black Business Forum, which was an initiative that they were launching at Aprio that we also knew about. And we had a board member in Angela Dotson who then came along and supported that ecosystem as well. So by the end of it, you know, to date we probably have I would say close to 10 Aprio employees who are directly involved in the program in some form or fashion.

SPEAKER_01:

Very cool. Yeah. Very cool. One other nugget from that conversation which kind of segue us to this next topic is around social enterprise.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So Michelle brought up and I wrote notes on my phone, which is why I'm remembering all these things I just thought it was such an interesting perspective that she brought up and I've had the CEO, the past CEO from Homeboy Industries on who also talked about the power of social enterprise and really skyrocketing and shifting their revenue.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

There's a lot of growing interest in this in social enterprises within the nonprofit sector. How would you define that what that can look like without it maybe feeling or sounding intimidating.

SPEAKER_02:

Sure. And I think it's in nonprofits you are at a level of capacity where taking risky decisions, you're dealing with donor money, you want to do everything extremely right and extremely by the book which not that social enterprises aren't, but there's some risk involved with a social enterprise. It's a business it is a for-profit business that you are starting alongside your organization. And so I think these are the lessons I've I've had the opportunity to learn even as Union Bill is exploring.

SPEAKER_01:

By the way.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. Well and and I think it has come up because it gives you a little bit more control and predictability of your revenue. So I think a lot of organizations are looking at social enterprises is how can that start to generate the operating cost of the organization?

SPEAKER_01:

It's no hitting do you have any good examples? Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. So you have the classics you know the Girl Scout cookies, the Habitat for humanity stores, goodwill is probably one of the most historic lessons in this but the one that comes to mind that I have really, really drawn to is Cafe Momentum. Yeah it's so good. If you're not aware Cafe Momentum is a restaurant. It's a restaurant that is a nonprofit and every layer of that business has a social component to it. And I think check out their socials. Yes. Check out their socials go have a meal. I mean really go go experience it. I think once you're in that building you will gravitate towards it. Once you're sitting down at that table and you hear the stories so every organization right now is trying to diversify revenue. That's no secret right and I think with the government funding with where that's at a lot of organizations are trying to do that in a scramble mode. To keep it from being intimidating to your organization, take an education process.

SPEAKER_01:

Or what about like is there a way that partners can come alongside and support this with that large knowledge base of a for-profit business? Okay. Have you had any of those conversations?

SPEAKER_02:

Is that yeah absolutely I mean you know it starts with your board, right? Talk to your board. All of them are more than likely most are probably a part of a for-profit business. That will be a new muscle for your organization, right? It was a new muscle even for the United Way of Greater Atlanta and United Ways that have done some social enterprise. It is running a business. And so you absolutely want to bring partners along partners love to provide in-kind services. We see it in a lot of different corporate partners especially but in kind product all of those things you are going to have to build out a business. You're going to have to build a business plan. You're going to have to and it doesn't look like a program you know development like this is and you're at some point you're going to have to go ask for seed money. That's not a donation. That's right. These are investors. I yeah the biggest lesson we I think I've gotten is these aren't donors. They're investors. And so when you're talking to investors it is a different conversation. It is a different language. And so you want to build up those external partners to support you in that development of that. Because again that goes back to my point of if you can have somebody they really know, you know, and if you're going to meet with a potential investor and you can have someone they know sing your praises and advocate for you, it takes away a little bit of that trust building process and you kind of can get into the nuts and bolts of the social enterprise development. But the biggest thing this will be my last point on the social enterprises No, I love it.

SPEAKER_01:

I think there's so much potential. Oh it's so much untapped potential.

SPEAKER_02:

My biggest thing is start with partnership. Go partner with a social enterprise. Gooder's a great example of this Cafe Momentum learn the inner workings of one that has been really successful. One that I love and is not technically a social enterprise from a nonprofit perspective but Brown Toy Box, my good friend Terry Bradley at Brown Toy Box, what she is doing in the toy company. Wait, I've never heard of that. So Brown Toy Box is a STEM company right sorry right here in Atlanta by Terry Bradley. And what she was noticing is one, there weren't a lot of STEM education toys out there to begin with, but they were not representative of black and brown students and black and brown youth. And so all of her toys have a STEM education and engagement aspect to them. She's on the shelves at Target. I mean she's blown up she's a Russell innovation center for entrepreneurs stakeholder. But we've had the opportunity to work with her in a couple of different ways through toy drives and things like that. But getting to learn her business you know one, I think the social aspect of it, the story of it, her drive who she is all of those things partnering with exactly or why she's successful. But even below that as you think about a business that started out with a really socially driven concept. We are going to make sure that more students who right now we see as a gap in the workforce that there are not as many women in STEM careers. There are not as many black and brown individuals in STEM careers. And so that purpose of I'm going to go fill that gap through a for-profit model is she's brilliant. And so I definitely look into Brown toy box. But that would be my first step. Don't try to jump headfirst into the deep end of running an entrepreneurship because you may not have the capacity to do that either, right? Yes. But partnering to really understand how they work the different what's out there too you know you don't want to develop a business plan and then you come to find out that there's 25 of these right here in the area that can compete in. Exactly that's exactly right so good.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my gosh. I love all of this. We could talk forever on this topic and partnerships. One of my favorite things that I've really worked on hard in my business too is the relationships and building and how can you find truly values aligned partners that are going to help extend the mission and reach what it is that you want to do and get out into the world. And so Matthew thank you so much for everything that you're working on, are working on I want to ask you a question as we wrap is do you have a as we're in the new year a favorite book or podcast or recommendation that you think listeners should check out?

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. I'm going to keep it quick but I'm going to do three. I'm going to do three because I thought about this a little bit one special shameless shout out to Dana. If you have not read Monthly Giving Mastermind you should read it. And I'll tell you why what I've taken away most you know the vehicles the monthly giving as a vehicle for your organization you absolutely have to embed it. But I think most of all you stress the importance of the donor journey and every donor wants to be a part of the journey within the organization. And I think your book does an incredible job of referencing that and really stressing the importance of building that out.

SPEAKER_01:

And so we are in the time of the year where you should think about how you get those one time people to invite and excite them.

SPEAKER_02:

That's right. No I I tell everyone I come across in fundraising especially you need to check out that book.

SPEAKER_01:

I did pay him to say that.

SPEAKER_02:

And she did not no she did not I brought two others. So if you are in corporate partnerships or if you're looking to have corporate partnerships this is called Beyond Checks and Halos. This is by Cynthia Currents. Shout out to our chief development officer at United Way of Greater Atlanta. She bought this for us and and has had us go through this. This is a great book for anyone that is looking to build partnerships. Even if you're looking to just I don't know where to start it does a great job of understanding how you vet partners how you build criteria the importance of researching the alignment areas before you go meet. Highly, highly suggest this one to anyone. And then this is a little bit of your social enterprise. So if you are somebody that's looking at social enterprise, I just worked through this proposition design.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, yes. This is definitely for profit I need it.

SPEAKER_02:

It's for profit but I it's very transferable to nonprofits because it talks about again if for even as you look at your partnerships, you have to have a clear understanding of the value proposition that your organization provides back not just to that partner but to the industry as a whole. You know if we're going to go after industry, the food and beverage industry, well what's our value proposition that we are really going to use as a selling point this has been extremely helpful in designing that as well as designing donor profiles and that customer service lens. This is a little bit more academic it is very academic actually but I have gone through this over the last several months and have really really found it to be useful and helpful.

SPEAKER_01:

Amazing I love you brought visuals to a visual podcast.

SPEAKER_02:

I know I I am in the middle of moving so I have yours packed away but uh I that that is one I will say again if you have to start the year with something to read I highly suggest the monthly give me mastermind very much it's a quick read I've been told it is where can people find you we'll be with that where's the best place to connect LinkedIn. LinkedIn it's Matthew Sutton began you'll see director of corporate partnerships at United Way of Greater Atlanta. Happy to pass along my personal email it's my first and last name Matthewsutton2018 at gmail.com I am always open for a cup of coffee or lunch or dinner I believe if we can meet over yes I will I will I'd be happy to meet and learn a little bit more about what you all are doing out in the community but also if there's any ways that I can be of support along the journey I'm happy to do. Right back at you thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00:

You're welcome thank you so much for tuning into today's episode of Missions to Movements. If you enjoyed our conversation and found it helpful I would love for you to take a moment to leave a review wherever you're listening. Your feedback helps us reach more change makers like you and continue bringing impactful stories and strategies to the show. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button too so you'll never miss an episode. And until next time keep turning your mission into a movement

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Dana Snyder

Host