At the same time Kodak was looking to expand into rural western China, The Nature Conservancy was looking for a supplier to provide cameras and film so Chinese villagers could document local issues.
By partnering up, The Nature Conservancy gained tens of thousands of photos showing environmental concerns, potential climate change impacts, air pollution and more; and Kodak was able to find out who in the rural areas would use cameras, what they used them for and what features they were looking for.
The work done by Kodak and The Nature Conservancy is one of many examples of businesses teaming up with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) explored in the Guide to Successful Corporate-NGO Partnerships.
Developed by the Global Environment Management Initiative and the Environmental Defense Fund, the guide explains the benefits of corporations and NGOs working together, and lays out what steps each should take in thinking about, forming and analyzing such partnerships.
Along with best practices for structuring partnerships, executing projects and measuring results, the guide includes 11 case studies explaining how companies teamed up with NGOs, and the business, environmental and social benefits of each partnership.
The guide, aimed at encouraging and assisting future partnerships, lays out considerations each side of a partnership needs to think about when looking for a partner, developing criteria for choosing a project, creating agreements, putting plans in place, determining the success of projects and communicating the results.
As with the Kodak/Nature Conservancy example, businesses and NGOs might not have the exact same goal in mind, but many have plans than can be aligned and integrated into one another. Each organization has its own set of resources, skills and experiences that can boost one another's efforts. |
