Corporate Donors – How to Get Them

The North Texas region benefits from having a large number of corporate offices and headquarters located here. But for the non-profit community, the challenge is trying to figure out how to connect with the right people in a corporation to secure a donation, employee volunteers, etc.

This isn’t a big problem for large non-profits. They have better name recognition, larger staffs and an established presence that makes it easier for them to make the right connections – but it can still be a challenge. However, for smaller non-profits it can seem almost impossible to find the right person, let alone get a meeting with them and establish a relationship.

In most corporations, the people responsible for charitable giving don’t always have the same job titles, aren’t always located locally and can have various “gatekeepers” who make it difficult to make a direct connection. I know because for more than 25 years – I was responsible for all charitable giving for Verizon in Texas and a number of other states.

So what’s the answer? Non-profits need to try to recruit corporate employees to serve on their board of directors. Other business people, elected officials, etc. who may already be on the board can help find the channel into the target corporation. If that doesn’t work, give me a chance to help. Having been a corporate funder for so many years here in North Texas, I’m in a good position to help non-profits figure out how to break the code on getting to the right people and how to prepare once they get the meeting to ask for help. Just go to www.russellgiving.com and let’s get started!