Understanding the value of a partnership 

In 2019 I was brought in to work across a partnership between Disney and Together for Short Lives, who support children’s hospices across the UK. This partnership was in the early stages and my role was to help the charity understand how they could leverage the partnership and identify key areas to focus on.

Identify Opportunities

To identify the opportunities available to the charity I spent time with key Disney stakeholders to understand their CSR strategy and social purpose. Disney’s focus is to create moments that matter and to help build emotional resilience in children. Working in partnership with their charity partners they are dedicated to creating moments that matter throughout the year, from the exceptional to the day-to-day, together delivering comfort and inspiration when it’s needed the most. Together for Short Lives align perfectly with Disney’s social purpose and our next steps were to identify the activations possible within the partnership.


Film releases play an important part in how Disney deliver their ‘Moments that Matter’ and in November 2019 Together for Short Lives were the charitable partner of Frozen II.  Understanding a Disney film release was certainly a learning curve for us all and working with the different business areas that come together to make it happen meant we were able to identify any commercial opportunities where the charity could add value.


Together for Short Lives had already been given the opportunity to base their annual fundraising ball on Frozen II so we could develop that event.


Strategise

It’s important for charities to look at the wider lens of a charitable partnership and understand that not all activities will be linked to fundraising. For Together for Short Lives, being associated with Disney’s brand would help raise awareness of their work and hopefully open new doors for other corporate partners.

With Frozen II being the biggest release for Disney in 2019, a large range of merchandise would be produced and I worked closely with the commercial partnerships team to look at cause-related marketing products with their current partners who would be supporting Frozen II. With this joint approach we were able to secure product with Marks & Spencer and confirm them as a sponsor for the fundraising ball - a great example of a collaborative approach which aligned across each organisation's objectives.

Disney has previously delivered children’s parties in hospices but this had proved challenging due to a low number of children attending the parties, The nature of children’s hospices being that you can never guarantee the number of children who are at the hospice on any one day. Our challenge for 2019 was to create those events in a different way, to enable Together for Short Lives to connect better with the families they support and to deliver more ‘Moments that Matter’ for Disney.

Working with Disney we looked at finding a central location which would be easily accessible for families supported by children’s hospices. Through the Disney Festive Celebrations which were held in Birmingham, Together for Short Lives were able to meet over 100 families supported by children’s hospices across the UK. This event enabled Together for Short Lives to demonstrate the value of their partnership with Disney by creating memories that those families will cherish forever. This wasn’t an event that raised funds but it built stronger awareness of Together for Short Lives with families using their services.

Disney x Together for Short Lives Event


Leverage

We also looked at how we could leverage the Frozen II premiere. In conjunction with Disney we created a private screening to celebrate hospice ‘Moment Makers’. Together for Short Lives were able to invite and thank over 100 staff who work in children’s hospices across the country. The event engaged with a new audience, helping them understand how the charity supports the hospices they work in.


This case study demonstrates that a charity partnership now needs to be considered on a much more strategic level. Corporate partners don’t always focus on fundraising and charities are starting to identify that. A partner like Disney is one of the biggest media brands in the world and the association of their brand equity has far greater long term value than developing a yearly fundraising target.


So if you are considering a new charity or corporate partner, think about how it can work from both sides, understand and appreciate each other’s business objectives and where you can add value. If you need any support do get in touch.







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