We stumbled upon an article in the Guardian which suggests eight ways to help your charity benefit from corporate partnerships, which we thought we would share with you with the bonus of having our own thoughts included.

Corporate-charity partnerships should never be one way. Ever more so, companies are searching for strategic charity partnerships to achieve popular goals for corporate social responsibility, HR or public relations. As an example, a corporate might consider supporting a charity which drives development and enterprise, if it itself is a corporate focussed on providing those skills to the public for a fee. Partnerships aren't just about money anymore, they're also about values.

When we think of partnering a company, we hardly ever consider the potential of its greatest resource - the employees. Consider two things: first, the lifetime value of engaging a passionate graduate in a volunteering activity at your charity and, second, the pool and potential of untapped skills on offer. It's like you're got a ready-made pool of eager and skilled volunteers at your fingertips - and you don't have to pay them a huge salary to access their skills.

This is all about getting inside the minds of your corporate partner. Like it or not, corporate philanthropy isn’t always that altruistic. If you're considering a corporate partnership, be aware and come prepared for this. Compile partnership opportunities that are threefold in terms of great benefits: what can your charity, the corporate and its stakeholders benefit from the partnership?

Keep your corporate updated with the excellent progress you're making. Changes, updates, new projects, news and achievements happening within your non-profit are all things that companies would love to know and keeping companies in the loop will make them feel engaged, valued and respected - great attributes for a long term partnership. Maybe you could invite them to a fundraising event or ask them to think about submitting a team who will be thanked at the end?

As with submitting long grant proposals, make sure you detail exactly the package you are requesting from the companies you approach: how much support do you expect? What will you give in return? Prove it with any documentation you can, or show it in your presentation if you give one. Corporates operate on facts, so give them the facts in black and white, it's the language they understand.

Come armed with lots of ideas about creative ways to work your corporate. This can be ways you are working with other companies to use as examples, or ideas that you could suggest for the future of your partnership. So what if a company can’t make that £50,000 donation this quarter? If they have pledged to host your annual charity gala instead, then you've still made great progress. Don’t be nervous about offering multiple routes to partnership - they’ll be impressed at your creativity, commitment and perseverance.

Think about assigning a relationship manager to every company you work with, this might be a member of the fundraising team. This will show the charity's personality, dedication and a willingness always to go the extra mile. It also makes sure that the corporate can get in contact with you easily, can feel supported and can have updates on the progress you're making - which might even make them suggest providing more support.

Think about creating an award scheme within your charity for the company working most effectively and efficiently out of your corporate partnerships - corporates love the drive of competition so this is perfect bait for them to step up. If you're only engaging with one corporate, then you could think about asking them to submit teams to an event, and the awarding the best team at the end, again creating that air of healthy and friendly competition for a good cause.