Episode 5: RevUP Corporate Connections

Zoss Kraska: Associating with your brand as an association is a big plus for a corporation. These are the things that you could do today to help get noticed by corporate decision makers.

Shomali: Welcome to Association RevUP, the podcast that will get everyone in your association talking about revenue health. I’m your host, Carolyn Shomali and I’m the Director of Content for the Professionals for Association Revenue.

Whether you’re an association leader or a revenue producer, this podcast series helps you explore a different aspect of your association’s revenue health in an entertaining and time-saving way. At PAR, we believe that revenue is vital to your association’s mission. Without it, you can’t create meaningful programs, advocate for your industry, fulfill the needs of members, and educate the workforce of tomorrow.

Throughout this season, we’ve touched on culture, sales leadership, sales skills, and partnership programs. We hope you’ve been listening along with your team and have been able to honestly assess where your association is and where you want it to go, all while using this podcast to explore some of the tools for helping you get there. If you’ve missed any of our episodes, go back and give them a listen. Each one is 25 minutes or less.

Today, we’re building on what we’ve learned to connect with the corporations that are real revenue drivers for our associations. Partnering with them in meaningful ways can be transformational. That is, if you can connect with them. This episode is especially for you if you find that your outreach is going unanswered, or you’re looking for new ways to stand out from the competition. We’ll also explore how your corporate connections can help you transform the future of your industry while untapping a new revenue source.

It’s time to RevUP Corporate Connections with Lori Zoss Kraska and Josh Slayton.

Zoss Kraska: I am the founder and CEO of Growth Owl, LLC, and specifically what we do is we help associations, other types of nonprofits, purpose-driven organizations find sponsorship dollars, partnership opportunities, and other types of resources from Fortune 1000 companies.

What are the things that you can do to start outreaching to corporate decision makers?

Shomali: Apple, Google, Target, AT&T, and CVS Health and more. These are some of the corporations that Lori Zoss Kraska has helped her association clients connect with, because she says the financial impact from companies like these can be transformative for association missions.

The previous episodes about sales skills, leadership, and partnerships have all focused on the same foundation: meaningful connections. With corporate partners, the scenario is no different, but the reality is we can’t build meaningful connections without first getting in touch, and often that means knowing what to say.

Zoss Kraska: Number one, focus your research on connection, all right? So the biggest problem that I see from associations and other traditional nonprofits, when you are first reaching out, you say way too much, way too much.

Shomali: We’ll come back to what to say and how much in just a moment, but let’s first focus on how to target our outreach. There’s a specific contact that you shouldn’t overlook. In 2020, when everybody was really focused on COVID, something very quietly was going on with Fortune 1000s. They were hiring Chief Corporate Social Responsibility Directors, Chief DEI Directors, Chief Accessibility Directors more than ever before. And it continues to grow. Why? Because doing good business and doing good in the community, doing good with associations brings in more business.

Zoss Kraska: 80% of my work that I’m doing with Fortune 1000s right now isn’t here. I rarely talk to the marketing department, rarely. I find that people in corporate social responsibility are much more accessible.

Shomali: CSR departments are focused on how their corporation can interact with external stakeholders to build a better community and enhance their corporate identity, which makes associations an obvious match. Another perk?

Zoss Kraska: They have their own budgets. They have their own budgets. And here’s what I love about that. With CSR, associations are perfect. With marketing, you are competing with the thousands of other interests that go to the marketing department. If you go to corporate social responsibility, it makes total sense. You have mission-driven organizations. They are looking for mission-driven organizations to talk to. So take the extra time to research for corporate social responsibility directors, vice presidents, on behalf of your association to reach out to.

Shomali: So CSR departments are one place to begin your research, and Zoss Kraska says not to overlook the non-endemic connections. These are the companies that on the surface wouldn’t appear to have any connection to your association. But after some digging, you may find them to be a strong match.

The key with non-endemic sponsors is they’re always looking for educational ways to get creative about their needs and their messaging to your members in partnerships that maybe would never have been thought of before. For instance, take the vacuum company Bissell and a veterinarian association. They don’t seem like a fit on the surface until you look deeper.

Zoss Kraska: Bissell has a whole foundation that is interested in the welfare of animals. Now, you wouldn’t know that right away unless you did a little research, right? So although Bissell may not seem like someone right on the outside that would make sense, they actually make a lot of sense once you do the research. Non-endemic sponsorship is one of the places I love to play the most because it’s a big challenge, but when it comes together, oh, is it good?

Shomali: So to recap, focused on corporate social responsibility departments and don’t overlook non-endemic sponsors. Zoss Kraska reminds us that it’s okay and actually preferred to begin your outreach by focusing on a small group of corporations.

Zoss Kraska:I like to say five, not 50. Work on maybe five potential corporate sponsors with over five weeks, get to really know them, get to know how they operate, reach out to them, as opposed to trying to get a list of 50 done. Because if you can build in the scalability into your day, you’re gonna feel more successful about it and it’s gonna keep you motivated to keep doing it.

Another way to stay motivated, actually getting responses to your outreach, and that’s what we’ll focus on now. During our RevUP sales skills episode, Park Howell reminded us that we can sell more by saying less. Zoss Kraska echoes that sentiment here, as she shares her first tip for effective outreach.

Zoss Kraska: The biggest problem that I see from associations and other traditional nonprofits, when you are first reaching out, you say way too much, way too much. Here’s four things to remember when writing those emails. Keep them to 200 to 300 words, focus on who you are, what you know about the corporation that sparked your outreach, and any proposed next steps. And the way to find the connection is do a deep dive of the website. Specifically, you wanna look at the annual report and the report to the community. In those reports, you’re gonna find who oversees corporate social responsibility and the specific areas that they like to sponsor and fund.

If you can reference, “Oh, I saw that you support the XYZ Association and their efforts for this. We have a similar goal and are interested in contacting you about a similar program.” That shows you’ve done your due diligence, you’ve done some research, you didn’t just go in blind, talking all about yourself. Make the connection.

Shomali: But the real differentiator is not how you begin your outreach, but how you end it. I want you to craft an impactful statement of gratitude.

Zoss Kraska: Everybody says thank you. Thank you. I want you to put yourself in the shoes of these corporate decision-makers. These are people that usually have 1,000 other things to do. And then they’ve got about 150 other people like you contacting them. The best way to get their attention, besides what I’ve talked about earlier, is to show empathy by expressing gratitude.

A great way I like to do this is by ending my emails with something like, “I realize you have a multitude of very good organizations contacting you, and I truly appreciate the time you’ve taken to review what I’m asking you to consider.” Thank you.

Shomali: We’ve covered where to focus your outreach and how to do it. We’ll pause for a moment so you can consider how your association is doing in this area and how it could evolve before giving you a few tips for how to get there. Do you currently have any partnerships with Fortune 1000 companies? Is it part of your overall business development strategy? Whether you’re already making corporate connections or you’re still unsure if this is right for your organization, consider this tip:

Zoss Kraska: If you’re not sure about a corporate sponsorship strategy yet but just want to test the waters, reach out about collaborating on an article. Once you’ve done that, you’re in, right? You’ve got a relationship you can start to build. You have a connection, and you can build on that. Corporate sponsorship, corporate support, is a long game. It takes time to bring in real dollars to your association, so start with the collaboration.

Shomali: Let’s explore three areas where Zoss Kraska says an association and corporate partnership makes sense: thought leadership, research, and mentorship or professional development. These are all ways that you can partner with a corporation to advance your mission and improve your revenue health. First, we’ll focus on thought leadership.

Zoss Kraska: It’s a way for corporations to show their industrial knowledge. To them, maybe you don’t always think of yourself this way, but associations represent authority. You show authority by bringing together like-minded people. That’s what makes your organization so great. Sometimes when I say this to associations, they immediately think, “Oh, they’re just gonna wanna sell their company.” Absolutely not. At this level, Fortune 1000 executives understand that when they come to an event like yours or engage in some sort of webinar or host an educational series, they are there as an industry expert.

Shomali: Think outside the box regarding both the type of thought leadership you’re looking for and who can provide it. Set up a Google Alert for a specific company you’re interested in working with. Clue into any key news updates or even new hires who may be eager to establish themselves as thought leaders.

Zoss Kraska: Is there a way that a thought leader from a Fortune 1000 company could provide value, insight, or a special experience for some of your long-term members? Talking about the state of the industry that you represent, recruitment, or all the ways to address issues in the environment beyond our control — if we come together and talk about them, we can come up with solutions.

Shomali: Next up: research.

Zoss Kraska: If your association is conducting a lot of research and you’re looking for a partner to help fund it, corporate money is a great way to do that. Sometimes I get the question, “Well, we don’t want it to seem like the corporation’s interests are influencing the research.” I understand that, but most corporations understand that the research is either being done by you or by a third party — not by the corporation.

Shomali: This leads to the final area of focus, where there is a real opportunity for associations and corporations to make a substantial impact together: labor shortages and workforce development. According to the US Chamber of Commerce, more than 1.6 million workers are currently missing from the labor force compared to February 2020. Partnering with corporations to develop and execute mentorship programs and leadership development programs is how associations can improve their revenue health and connect to their mission of furthering their industry.

Zoss Kraska: This is huge because everyone understands the need for talent and retention, whether you’re a for-profit company that makes billions of dollars a year or an association run by three people. Corporations want to help because if they can help the association get people excited about the industry, that’s going to help them too. They see real needs in areas like recruitment, retention, and mentorship. Mentorship, in particular, is something I get a lot of questions and interest about. Leadership development is another big area of focus. How are you developing your leaders in your association? Are you developing women? Are you developing people of color? These are areas where corporations are interested in supporting. Putting a formalized program around it provides a lot of value, and associating with your brand as an association is a big plus for corporations.

Shomali: When we come back, we’ll continue exploring the role associations play in educating their industry’s workforce and how corporations can help. We’re not doing enough to prepare our workforce for the future across many different skill sets, and the impact is huge. How can associations connect with corporations and higher ed learning systems to address the nation’s labor shortage? We’ll explore that answer with Josh Slayton of the Holmes Corporation next.

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Slayton: We have failed, as a society, to kind of meet the needs of the workforce, right? So we have designed an educational system that incentivizes, pushes people towards a post-secondary landscape, which is still how people think about kind of the capstone and the bridge to a career, that really only works for 20 to 25% of the population.

Shomali: That’s Josh Slayton, the Chief Growth Officer for Holmes Corporation, a longtime partner to associations that helps them build, support, and scale certification programs and other related products. Does your association offer certification or credentialing programs? If so, is it for the benefit of your members? Slayton says we can broaden our thinking to have an even larger impact by reaching not only our current workforce, but our future one. Here, he points to data surrounding college enrollment and graduation rates to highlight this opportunity.

Slayton: 62% of high school grads in 2022 enrolled in college. That’s actually come down, right? It used to be around 70% at peak, but it’s come up since 1970s, right? It used to be about 10%. And you have about 40 to 50% of those with degrees are what’s considered underemployed, right? They’re in jobs that you don’t need a degree for. You have a system that’s been set up that works well. And let’s be honest, it does work well for those 20 to 25% of people, but it doesn’t work well for the vast majority of Americans. And yet, then we have this massive skill mismatch in many industries, right? We’re not meeting kind of the needs of the workforce.

Shomali: A US Chamber of Commerce Foundation report agrees, reporting that 74% of hiring managers cite a lack of skilled talent available to fill positions. This results in skilled deficiencies in critical industries, like cybersecurity, manufacturing, engineering, and healthcare. And in a recent Gallup poll, just 11% of business leaders said that college graduates were effectively prepared for the workforce. Slayton says that that data, combined with college enrollment statistics, opens the door to an alternative pathway for learning.

Slayton: There’s this massive growth in credentials in the market. I think it’s almost a million credentials or certifications, ranging from micro-credentials to certificates, certifications, and degrees. There’s this recognition that there are probably different ways to go about learning. It feels like it’s shifting. The question is now, how do we, and partners, help it shift? What role can associations play to push that shift and really help access alternative pathways, alternative credentials, etc.?

Shomali: So here’s where associations and corporate partners can join together to bridge the gap between higher ed and skilled efficiencies in their industry. Just as Lori Zoss Kraska recognized at the start of the episode, associations have authority in their industry. Meanwhile, corporations are actively aware of the skills their workforce needs. Together, that can be a powerful partnership in which associations and corporations set the standards for their industry.

Slayton: They are the authoritative body on the necessary skills and what that industry means and needs. Because they have, or should have, great partners on the corporate side, they can define that body of knowledge, that industry taxonomy, which leads to the skills necessary to advance people’s careers. This also helps corporations by filling out the roles needed to continue growing.

Shomali: Once that body of knowledge is defined into a certification, associations and corporations can partner with higher ed to educate the workforce as part of an educational ecosystem that truly equips the modern-day learner. However, this idea often stalls in program ownership. Does the college embed it into their existing infrastructure, or can students access it without higher ed?

Slayton: You can leverage an association’s pathway in partnership with the corporate world, which is ultimately what we’re trying to advance — to create entry-level, ongoing certifications and learning ecosystems that help people access careers, possibly even without going to a traditional school. That’s where I see the model shifting. Yes, we should embed some of these within degree-granting programs, but we should also not think of the degree-granting side as the only arbiter for getting those entry-level jobs, because we’re seeing that it doesn’t always work.

Shomali: Here’s an example of associations, higher ed, and corporations working together. Holmes Corporation brought together an educational partner in Ivy Tech Community College, an association partner in SHRM, and a manufacturing company to develop a human resources apprenticeship program. In the program, Ivy Tech delivers HR training to students based on the SHRM certification program, and the manufacturing company provides them with real-world training in entry-level HR roles. At the end of the apprenticeship, students are eligible to take the SHRM certification exam, and if they pass, they can receive retroactive credit toward their associate’s degree.

Slayton: Think of all the different players involved in that. You have the industry, the community college, local workforce and government entities helping with funding, the professional association, and the technology company behind it. You have all these different players as part of the ecosystem, which is leading to great results. Someone can come out with a great job, likely no debt, and an industry certification. Again, not every model is the same, but this is a really cool way to deliver training aligned with workforce needs, leveraging the professional association’s taxonomy and body of knowledge to do so.

Shomali: When we think about the transformative power of our associations, this is a real-world example, and it’s made possible in part by corporate partnerships. According to a recent PAR survey, 41% of association leaders are prioritizing professional development and certification programs as a non-dues revenue stream. If you are one of them, did today’s conversation expand your thinking? We’d love to hear your comments. Consider leaving a review and subscribe to this podcast so that you never miss an episode.

My thanks to Lori Zoss Kraska and Josh Slayton for this informative conversation, and to our supporting partner, VPC, Inc. On the next episode, we’re taking an overwhelming topic and making it more actionable as we learn how to rev up data. Collection alone doesn’t accomplish the mission — it’s just a bunch of data thrown at you. The value is in extracting insights and making the data actionable.

Association RevUP is a production of the Professionals for Association Revenue. Join us in person next November at the RevUP Summit in Annapolis, Maryland, and use the code PARPOD to register. That’s P-A-R-P-O-D. I’m Carolyn Shomali. Thanks for spending your time with me today, and we’ll see you next time.