Potential Partner Organizations
Overview
We believe the three lanes of engagement described in this toolkit will have the greatest success if your company partners with a nonprofit organization or school. Your partner organization can manage recruitment, can collaborate with you on program design and implementation, and will bring valuable youth development expertise to your work. We encourage you to spend time thoroughly researching potential partners. The list below was created as a starting point only—there are many additional nonprofit organizations you might want to consider, or you may want to explore a partnership with a high school, community college, or other type of educational institution—but we hope this will begin to give you a sense of some of the organizations working in this arena. The list that follows was developed by United Way Worldwide, working in collaboration with the United Way affiliates in each of the cities listed. The organizations listed below meet the following criteria:
- Focus largely, if not primarily, on underserved youth
- Have at least one established program focused on supporting youth in their pursuit of employment
- Have experience partnering with businesses on youth employment programs and demonstrated success
Whether you choose to partner with one of the organizations listed below, or a different organization, we strongly encourage you to undergo a thorough due-diligence review and ensure that you and your partner are aligned on expectations before committing to an engagement.
Please note that there are many other organizations that meet the above criteria but are not included. This is not an intentional exclusion. Instead, we view this list as a starting point and will add more organizations to this list over time. We plan to add more multi-site nonprofits as well as local and regional organizations in future versions of this toolkit.
Considerations for Selecting a Partner
In exploring a potential partnership with an organization, here are some questions to help guide your conversation. These questions should serve solely as a starting point to help you think about the conversation. Please consider these questions as a supplement to questions specific to your organization’s area of interest, resources and desired outcomes.
- Has the organization ever partnered with a corporation before beyond receiving a grant?
- How aligned is the type of program your company is hoping to implement with the partner organization’s mission and programming?
- Is the organization effectively set up to work with a corporate partner? Does the organization have staff dedicated to managing partnerships?
- Do the organization’s programs demonstrate strong impact and overall success?
- If you were to partner, who would be your primary point of contact within the organization? How would you partner with this person on an ongoing basis? Does the potential partner’s organizational structure align with your company’s vision for engagement and partnership?
- Is the organization expecting a grant for the engagement? If yes, ask your contact to prepare a proposal based on the program scope you have discussed.