Sequence template · 4 steps over 20 days

Proposing a long-term CSR or volunteering partnership

For NGOs approaching a company about a multi-year partnership: four steps that start with the company's own goals and end with a small first project.

Goal. A first meeting about a long-term partnership with a company's CSR or HR lead

Step 1Day 0, campaign start

Subject {{company_initiative}} and a partnership idea from {{org_name}}

Hi {{first_name|there}},

I read about {{company_initiative}} at {{company}}, and it overlaps with what {{org_name}} does every week in {{city}}: {{cause_area}}.

I am not writing to ask for a donation. I am writing to ask whether {{company}} would consider a longer partnership, where your people get involved directly and the results are something you can report on year after year.

Would you have half an hour to talk about what that could look like? I will come with two concrete options, not a brochure.

Start from something the company has already said about itself. The company_initiative field must be real; if you cannot fill it, do not send this row.

Step 2Day 5

Subject Re: {{company_initiative}} and a partnership idea from {{org_name}}

Hi {{first_name|there}},

One of the two options I mentioned is a volunteering day for a team at {{company}}, run by us and tied to {{cause_area}}. It works as a first step because it costs little, your colleagues see the work with their own eyes, and both sides learn whether the fit is real before anyone signs a multi-year agreement.

If that is more interesting than a formal programme to begin with, I can propose two dates.

A smaller, concrete first project. Long-term partnerships almost always start with one day that went well.

Step 3Day 12

Subject How {{org_name}} reports to partners

Hi {{first_name|there}},

Companies we work with usually want to know what they will be able to say about the partnership internally and in their reporting. So here is how we handle it: agreed goals at the start, a short update each quarter, and a yearly summary with figures you can quote and stories you can tell.

If that kind of accountability matters to {{company}}, I would like to show you an example.

Answers the question a CSR lead has to answer upstairs. Attach nothing; offer to show an example on a call.

Step 4Day 20

Subject Re: How {{org_name}} reports to partners

Hi {{first_name|there}},

I will not keep writing. If a partnership around {{cause_area}} is not on the agenda at {{company}} this year, thank you for reading, and I would welcome one line saying when might be better.

If it is, a call at any time that suits you is the next step.

Closes the thread and asks only for a date, which is the cheapest possible reply.

Use this sequence when you want a relationship that lasts more than one cheque: employee volunteering, a named programme, or a multi-year commitment. It is slower than a donation ask and the replies come from further up the organisation, so plan for weeks, not days.

Who to put in it

Companies that have already said something public about a cause near yours: a sustainability report, a volunteering scheme, a foundation, a page on their site. That statement becomes the company_initiative field, and without it the first message has nothing to stand on. Inside the company, the CSR or sustainability lead, the head of HR (volunteering usually sits with them), and in smaller companies the managing director. Two or three people per company is right here, because the decision needs more than one of them. How to space those people out, and why to start with one rather than all three at once, is in how many people to contact in one company.

What to change before sending

Replace the volunteering day in step two with whatever your realistic first project is; the point is that it is small, dated and visible. Step three describes a reporting rhythm. Only promise the one you already deliver to existing partners. If the sending mailbox belongs to a director rather than a fundraiser, say so in the signature; partnership requests from the top of one organisation to the middle of another are read differently.

How to read the replies and when to stop

Because several people from one company are in the campaign, read the replies on the company card, not one by one. If the HR lead answers and the CSR lead does not, the conversation has found its owner; stop the sequence for the others with a short personal note. The account temperature guide explains how the card combines opens, clicks and replies from several people into one picture, and company temperature covers what a rising temperature without a reply usually means: the message is being forwarded internally, so wait rather than send.

“We already have a charity partner” is a Maybe later, not a no; many companies review those partnerships on a fixed cycle, and a reply asking when is worth sending. After step four, leave the company for at least six months before a new sequence with a new reason.