On Silos - Part II

Not-For-Profits: A Dependent Hero?

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In part 1 of the On Silos-series, we established a nifty little paradox:
Not-for-profits rely on  private sector funding (among others) to sustain their operations and optimise their capacity, reach and overall ability to serve their purpose. But partnering with the private sector comes at a risk: it demands that their most precious currency be put on the line: their reputation for independence and authenticity. Lest they be accused of contributing to an image-washing operation. So, are not-for-profits a dependent hero?

Let’s talk money. The Global Fund explores private sector contributions in their 2019 position paper entitled The Power of Partnerships (it’s a divine read, go for it!): "Private sector partnerships are critical to the success of the Global Fund. To date, the private sector has contributed over US$2.7 billion to the Global Fund, and provided valuable expertise that has helped maximize the impact of our investments."

So not only has the private sector the ability to inject capital, it furthermore brings expertise and capacity, through more sophisticated logistics, technology and sometimes political pull to deliver e.g. a nature conservation project. But what about that darn risk to image? I've written about this plenty, but for those of you out there (4th wall break, oh yeah!) that want to dive a bit deeper into this topic, this 2004 paper by Elbers entitled "Doing Business with Business" is simply stunning.

So, the million dollar question is this: Should a not-for-profit prioritise impact or image? 

In the end, I'd argue that one cannot exist without the other. Image is key, and a tarnished one can deter other sponsors from engaging with one's organisation as it garners the reputation to be 'bought' by the private sector.

Next: amidst the tug and pull of image or impact, smaller organisations with financial dependency run the risk of deflated power, as culture and independence can be corrupted by the more powerful partner (aka a business). This can negatively impact employee morale and sense of affiliation, performance, credibility and ability to live up to the established vision, which will inevitably hurt the cause which the not-for-profit has assigned to itself.

Yet, and it couldn't have been said better than by a not-for-profit leader interviewed by The Partnering Initiative x Accenture, often times such risk is a necessary evil: " We ask ourselves quite often whether our partnering activities are „green washing‟ companies. We also agonise as to whether being funded by a company to do our work, even if through this we raise awareness of environmental issues more widely, is a conflict of interest for an environmental NGO. My personal view is that when we weigh up the moral consequences of our decision to work with business, and because the relationship enables us to get things done more efficiently and effectively, the collaboration is entirely appropriate and justified.”

Risk however, must be managed, specifically in the climate change arena and possibly the most well-known type of washing, greenwashing, as is illustrated by the WWF's entanglement in a German documentary called "Der Pakt mit dem Panda - Was der WWF uns nicht erzaehlt". Loosely, this would translate to "The Pact with the Panda - What the WWF isn't telling us", however for the English translation, a reference to The Silence of the Lambs was elected, "The Silence of the Pandas". While most claims the documentary made were swiftly debunked (mostly centred around industry partnership), the environmental stewardship arena is one driven by emotion, one in which fact can be outweighed by perception easily, and recovery from the reputational damage done by the documentary was lengthy.

So, what to do what to do? We need partnerships like these to succeed. We need silos to be broken down, start dancing to the same tune (preferably Rumba) and actually start with getting things done. Enough talk. Be sure to check out part 3 below, where I pulled together some astonishingly convenient resources on how to mitigate reputation risk when partnering with the private sector (corporate readers: pay attention).

That's all for today gentlewomen, gentlemen and everyone in between.

Let's go get it,

Tom