Corporate Endorsements

Met up with Jo Burrows recently. Jo is director of Rededge Fundraising Solutions, based in Victoria.

Funnily enough, a week later I was looking back on some fundraising resources and found an article by Jo written for the  Aus magazine, Fundraising and Philanthropy.

Back then Jo had introduced The Sensitive Choice endorsement for the National Asthma Council in Australia.

The subject of endorsement is a fraught one and I noted that the board of the Asthma Council had asked how they could endorse products in a safe and low risk way.

Endorsements are difficult and should not be entered into without serious consideration of the risks. Too often I find that charities/nonprofits entering into any kind of business relationships fail to do any due diligence or risk assessment.

What should we be looking for?

First I would do a company search through the Companies Office. Check up on the shareholders and directors and their past history. How long has the company been around?

Don't forget the obvious - website and google search. If there is no website, or you can't easily find it, that's a bit of a red flag for me. If you find a website, make sure you look at the history, the annual report if it's attached, and any other links.

Look out for previous media coverage. Have their been any scandals or unfortunate headlines?

If they are reasonably big you might find more information in the Top 200 company's listing which is published in Management Magazine once a year.

Having found all the public information, create a risk register which outlines all the potential risks of partnering with the organisation. Capture all the "What If.s"...Think about things like the company being sued,  managers with their hands in the till, product recalls, environmental pollution, bankruptcy etc.

The final thing is to make sure that you are happy to endorse the product or service. That's the absolute bottom line. If you can't eat or drink the product, or stay overnight, or drive the car with a smile on your face, then don't go any further with product endorsements!!!!