Commercial partners look for compatibility, good communication, and something special. They have basic criteria like creating real jobs and skills, helping the hardest to reach, and social impact. They want cultural alignment, engagement with their employees, and activities that enhance their brand. Minimum criteria and due diligence are required. A successful partnership aligned with the company's goals of financial capability and had opportunities for employee involvement and positive publicity. Future partnerships require strong strategic alignment, sustainability, and evidence of impact. The key is understanding the funder's criteria and communicating what value you bring in a clear, simple way through open communication.

1. What Do Commercial Partners
Look For?
Sandy MacDonald, Standard Life
28 November 2014

2. 2
Successful partnerships…
• Compatibility - alignment and shared goals
• Good, honest communication and relationship management
• That extra something special?

3. Programme Funding
Our application criteria and process
Basic consideration criteria
• Real Jobs
• Living Wage
• Development of Real Skills/
Improving Attainment
• Servicing the needs of hardest-to-reach
• Addressing barriers to employment
for specific groups
Output and impact
• Opportunity for SL employee
involvement
• Scale and national reach
• Commitment to work in partnership
with SL and other charity partners
• Uniqueness/innovation
• Return on Investment
• Social impact
Cultural fit and relationship
development
• Cultural and organisational
alignment with Standard Life
• Engagement with SL people, senior
leaders and SLCT Board
• Wider activity to enhance SL Brand
• Direct fit with wider ‘Building More
Prosperous Futures’ pipeline
3
Minimum entry criteria
Due diligence process
Maximise partnership

4. 4
Jump2It
• Met our focus on financial capability and employability, and a shared desire to
build more prosperous futures
• AND a link to our sponsorship (at the time) of British Basketball
• Opportunities for media coverage, positive brand and reputational benefits (with
local community, government, customers and general public)
• Opportunities for our people to get involved in an easy and engaging way
• Some added nice touches…

5. 5
Future – Direction of Travel
A few considerations
• Corporate hospitality, etc increasingly difficult due to bribery and corruption
legislation
• Strategic alignment, added value and a long-term view ever more important
(“sustainability”/responsible business, rather than corporate philanthropy)
• This also means budgets can be more complex – multiple stakeholders involved
in making decisions
• Evidence and impact measurement expectations increasing – scrutiny and
reporting

6. 6
And finally…
If you only do 3 things:
• Investigate and understand funder’s key criteria and decision-making process
• What do you bring? (Simple, clear and compelling)
• Open, pro-active, two-way communication