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So we’ve all had it. That wonderful moment when a street fundraiser approaches you in a very friendly way asking you to donate a bit to their charity. Most of the time we’ll fork up a bit of loose change to keep them happy and then be on our way.

This is how fundraising has traditionally been, but more and more charities are finding that it’s no longer the best way to go.

Now there are loads of different topics to address when you talk about fundraising, but I’m going to talk about one of the new and most exciting areas – charities working with businesses.

More and more we’re seeing some of the bigger businesses supporting charities, to the benefit of their own companies. It’s a common misconception for people to think that if a business partners with a charity and sends them donations, that charity somehow owes them something. On the contrary, a business-charity partnership should be mutually beneficial for both organizations.

In general a corporate partnership will work something like this:

• A company pledges to give money to a charity
• The charity will promote the company to it’s supporters (such as their shops, website, emails and social networks)
• More customers will be driven to the company as a result

In practice these partnerships take place in many different ways. Affiliate marketing schemes are some of my favourite. An example would be Ecotricity’s partnership with Christian Aid. For every new customer that Christian Aid refers to them, Ecotricity pays them £25.

This isn’t rocket science. Done right, a corporate partnership should increase profits for the company while helping the charity. For businesses, working with charities is effectively just a different way of advertising for them. The fact that consumers are now caring more and more about who they shop from should give a clue to both businesses and charities.

More and more businesses are realizing that being ethical is actually a good thing for them, and are changing the way they run the business as a result. Charities won’t want to promote a business that is somehow ‘un-ethical’, but if they know that they’re referring their public supporters to an ethical one then it’s great for them – they are trying to make the world a better place after all.

As the number ‘ethical companies’ grows, charities should be actively looking to partner with them in order to further both of their goals. Rattling tins and public support is great, but it’s not enough on its own. I reckon the real difference in the world will be made by partnerships between businesses and charities.

Win-win relationships can and will go a long way.