1. Working with Corporates
Liz Sully, Fundraising Manager, Women's Aid
Lindsay Roche, Community Engagement
Co-ordinator,
The Midcounties Co-operative

2. Women's Aid: Who we are
• National charity working to end
domestic and sexual violence until
women and children are safe.
• Second-tier organisation supporting
a network of 300 member
organisations running local
domestic and sexual violence
services across England.
• Annual income of £2 million.
• Offices in Bristol and London, 3 full-
time fundraising staff.

3. Women's Aid: What We Do
• Provider of direct support and
information to survivors of domestic
and sexual violence through
National Domestic Violence Helpline
(run in partnership with Refuge) and
online Survivors' Forum.
• Campaign and lobby on behalf of
survivors and the services that
support them to influence domestic
violence policy and practice.
• Provider of training and
accreditation to encourage best
practice.
• Carry out research and disseminate
findings.
• Awareness raising and prevention.

4. Corporate support
• No large-scale corporate
partnerships prior to 2003.
Mainly reliant on statutory and
trust funding.
• Approached by The Body Shop
in 2003 to partner on 'Stop
Violence in the Home' campaign
- CRM campaign.
• Strategy put in place to diversify
funding and secure further
corporate partnerships.
• Approached companies to help
raise awareness initially, and
once relationship was in place
put in ask for funding.

5. • Secured partnership with Topshop to
raise funds for Helpline.
• Have since secured support from
Avon, BT, Debenhams, Citi, Asda.
• Recruited Corporate Development
Board of senior business figures to
assist in attracting support from
corporates.
• Funds from corporates now account
for approximately a quarter of
income.
• Embarked on first large-scale
Charity of the Year partnership with
The Midcounties Co-operative in
2011.

6. Corporate Support: What’s worked for us
• Using networks for advice and contacts: Corporate
Development Board
• Campaigns and marketing: using niche aspect to our
advantage
• Adding value to partnerships: supporting employees,
providing training
• Tailoring projects to meet corporate’s own
objectives/focus
• Being flexible and looking beyond fundraising to other
ways to engage employees and customers
• Being creative

7. Challenges...
and how we
overcame them

8. 'Taboo' issue
• People are uncomfortable talking about it.
• Too upsetting/too close to home.
Solutions
• Focus on the positives.
• Use stories of survivor’s who have come out the other
side.
• Make it accessible - relate to people's own lives.
• Use ‘champions’ within companies to help spread the
message and encourage conversation.

9. Lack of Visibility
• Seen as a private matter.
• Many victims are afraid to speak out - gives impression
that happens less than it actually does .
• Don't want to be seen as interfering.
Solutions
• Talk about the extent of the problem - figures and
statistics.
• Explain wider impact on children, friends and family, cost
to society.
• Link with other issues - homelessness, drug and alcohol
dependency, mental health etc.

10. Myths and Stereotypes
• Outdated views about domestic violence.
• Belief that it only happens to a certain type of person -
"that sort of thing doesn't happen round here".
• Just a 'domestic'.
• She must have done something to deserve it.
Solutions
• Spend time raising awareness and exploding the myths.
• Use survivor stories.

11. Lack of Profile
• Not a household name.
• Not necessarily known outside the domestic violence
sector.
Solutions
• Enlist pro bono support from advertising agencies -
approach with innovative ideas. Give them a challenge.
• Turn on its head to use to your advantage - opportunity to
do something different and stand out.
• Use high-profile supporters and celebrities to access
networks.

12. Female focus
• Roots in feminist movement of 1970s.
• 'Man-hating' label.
• Dismissed as a 'women's issue' that is not relevant to men
• Male victims.
• Misguided views around child contact.
Solutions
• Statistical and historical evidence.
• Partnerships with organisations supporting male victims.
• 'Real Man' campaign inviting men to become part of the
solution.
• ‘Real Man’ Ambassadors
• Highlight impact on children/friends and family.

13. 2nd Tier Organisation
• Do not run local services ourselves.
• Difficult to communicate.
• Hard to give tangible examples of how policy and
campaigning work directly impacts on people's lives.
Solutions
• Work in partnership with member services to give
opportunities to combine local and national support.
• Split funding for national and local impact.
• Be creative in communicating less tangible elements of
work.

14. Lack of Resource
• Small fundraising team compared to many national
charities.
• Limited budget for advertising, marketing and fundraising
merchandise.
Solutions
• Maximise volunteer resource.
• Partnership working to pool resources.
• Make use of pro bono support.
• Be honest about capabilities – corporate may be able to
help.

15. Safety and Confidentiality
• Difficulty in providing volunteering opportunities due to
confidentiality of refuge locations and vulnerability of
beneficiaries.
• Worries about how to respond to victims and/or perpetrators and
deal with disclosures .
Solutions
• Be creative about how people can use their time to help.
Opportunities outside refuge. Careers advice, mentoring,
business support, pro bono support.
• Letters/pictures from women and children.
• Give practical advice about how to respond to abuse and
signposting - don't need to be an expert.
• Provide training and guidance on workplace policies.

16. Experience of large-scale corporate
partnerships
• Lack of experience often limits opportunities - especially in
relation to Charity of the Year.
Solutions
• Start smaller and work up slowly - local/regional
partnerships.
• Look for other routes in - marketing/PR budgets in
addition to CSR budgets. Campaign products and CRM.

17. Case Study
The Midcounties Co-operative Charity
Partnership

18. The Midcounties Co-operative
Who we are
• We are a consumer co-operative owned by our members, and
part of the global co-operative movement
What we do
• We operate a range of businesses in Food, Travel, Pharmacy,
Funeral, Childcare, Energy, Employee Benefits and Post Offices
Where we trade
• Our heartlands are in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire,
Buckinghamshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, the West Midlands,
Wiltshire and Worcestershire. However, our Energy, Childcare
and Employee Benefits businesses trade across the UK

19. Our Aim
Our aim is to be a successful consumer co-operative working
towards creating a better, fairer world, and to enhance the lives
of our colleagues, members, customers and the communities
we serve
Making a difference
We return a percentage of our pre-tax profit to support co-
operative and community investment. In 2011 this amounted to
23% (or £2.8m)

20. Our DOES Values
Democracy
Openness
Equality
Social Responsibility

21. Projects
Charity Partner Volunteering
School
Grant Giving
Engagement

22. Charity Partnerships

23. Criteria for selection
• Linked to our Social Goals
• Income of less than £12 million.
• Local partners and visible return of
fundraising locally.
• Volunteer opportunities for colleagues.
• Individual fundraising challenge
opportunities for colleagues.
• Account manager

24. How we choose a charity?
• Community Team select 4-8 potential
charities. (February – May)
• These are sent to our Executive who
choose two. (July/August)
• Pitch to panel (September)
• Our Colleague Council representatives
– one per site - have the final vote.
(October)

25. Our previous charity partnerships
Dogs for the Disabled, 2009
• £150,000.
• Tangible fundraising
• Good PR - photos of very cute dogs
Help the Hospices, 2010 – 2011
• Two year partnership raising £407,000
• National and local partnerships with eleven
hospices across our trading area
• Cause resonates with everyone
• Lots of volunteer opportunities for colleagues.

26. Women’s Aid
• Small and relatively unknown charity
• Not a popular or easy to engage cause – Taboo issue
• Never had a charity of the year partnership
• Limited individual fundraising opportunities eg Marathon ballot
places for colleagues
• Limited volunteer opportunities due to the nature of their work
• Female focus. What would be the reaction of our male
colleagues?
Similarly…
• Would we be able to partner locally as well as nationally?
• Do they have the resource to manage the partnership?

27. 2011

28. February – May
• Focus on engagement
• Fundraising Committee
away day at Women’s
Aid
• Presentations at area
meetings
• Leadership Team Day
• AGM
• Colleague Forum

29. Key learning's
• The ‘Real Man’ campaign helped to engage colleagues.
• Awareness was becoming just as important as fundraising.
• Communication - light touch on key messages was the best
approach
• As colleagues began to understand the cause and it’s
importance fundraising levels rose. Similarly, some of
colleagues disclosed that they had/were survivors of domestic
abuse so signposting information was made readily available
• Fundraising Committee opened up communication for Women’s
Aid with key people in every trading group
• Once engaged our colleagues wanted an action to take part in
to support the charity.

30. June – August
• Sponsored walk
• Haven D14 volunteering
challenge
• Kilimanjaro climb
• Launch of support for
‘Real Man’ Campaign
• Pin badges
• Pro bono support

32. September - November
‘Give at the Till’
campaign
Launch of Betty Jackson ‘You Can’t
‘Give at the Till’ campaign Beat a Woman’ bags to coincide
with 25th November.

34. November – January
Post Offices ‘Real Man’ day Christmas donations
appeal

35. Objectives
• Raise £100,000
• Improve awareness and understanding of domestic
abuse amongst colleagues, members and customers
• Support local communities in which TMC has a
trading presence
• Give colleagues the opportunity to support WA’s work
locally
• Support and protect TMC’s colleagues affected by
domestic violence
• Send a clear message that businesses can play a
key part to help end abuse

36. To date
• £294,000 raised to date
• D14 are highest fundraisers in Food Retail totalling
over £14,000.
• Record breaking Give at the Till in April 2012=
£55,000
• 30,000 signatures for the ‘Real Man’ Campaign.
• 9800 colleague volunteering hours.
• Press value of the partnership is just under £100,000
• Since September 2011, six organisations who
support survivors of domestic and sexual abuse have
received money from our community grants scheme.

37. Legacy
• Design and printing of 100,000 leaflets
• Relationship with local partner services and sites –
and individual colleagues - will continue
• Colleague volunteering challenges at partner
services
• Signposting for women due to awareness in sites
• Domestic violence awareness training for HR
colleagues and heads of departments.
• £30k ‘Respectful Relationships’ Educational
Resource focussing on addressing the issue of abuse
in teenage relationships.

38. Tips
• Do your research.
• Be honest. If this is your first charity partnership you can be
more flexible than larger, more established charities.
• Don’t just focus on the fundraising. What else can you offer in
return?
• Be aware of your messages and audience . Start with a light
touch and a positive angle. As a result of this partnership, what
will change for you and people you support.
• Take time to talk to people and get buy-in at the start of the
partnership.
• Tailor your fundraising initiatives to the business as we did with
our trading groups

39. Business benefit
• Changed our approach to charity of the year partnerships. From
now on, they will be more aligned with our overall community
engagement strategy
• Opportunity to explore new ways of fundraising (text donation,
just giving, CRM products) and awareness (Twitter, Facebook,
Real Man campaign) in relationship to our charity partnerships
• Colleague engagement
• Business benefit from the domestic violence training has led to a
review of our DV policy and an awareness within our HRA of
possible signs of domestic abuse
• We don’t need to have an easy cause for our colleagues to
fundraise
• Fundraising Committee became a sounding ground for new
ideas.

40. Our customers and survivors of domestic abuse
…”As a victim of domestic violence I valued her kindness because it
made me feel important. I know that the Co-op is supporting Women’s
Aid this year and on behalf of all domestic violence victims, I’m grateful
for support of a charity for such a vulnerable group in society.”
…”When you as a resident come to a women’s refuge, at
some point, you feel really let down in life, also it is possible
to feel unwanted, unloved and at rock bottom in life. Thanks
to people like yourselves, you have given us more pleasure
– as adults and children – than you could ever have known.
You have given back our faith in humanity knowing people
such as yourselves are ready to muck in and please us the
way you have.”

41. ‘Looking back on such a fantastic day, Our colleagues
I remember the genuine gratitude
from the residents, especially one
lady who was brought to tears and On completion of the challenge
couldn't watch us work‘ Nathan, some of the children started to
Store Manager, Merry Hill arrive back to the Haven from
school. From watching their
expressions on their faces and
listening to their comments as they
spoke to their mums, brought such
a smile to my face and what I call
the ready brek glow inside. The best
…….”I feel very proud to be part of a comment of the day I heard from
team that can raise to a challenge such one of the mums was (It's nice to
as this and achieve such great results for know that people care). To me this
such a worthwhile cause…this is what out-weighed any aches or pains
being part of a co-operative business is and made me proud to be part of
all about….well done all.” Mark Ralph, the District 14 team and part of
District Manager Midcounties. ..... It just shows that a
little bit of thought, time and effort
could make such a impact on
people lives. Russell Fox, Store
Manager, Shawbury

42. Thank You
Any questions?
Liz Sully Lindsay Roche
e.sully@womensaid.org.uk Lindsay.Roche@midcounties.coop