An Untapped Resource for Nonprofit Social Service Organizations: An Examination of a Partnership with Corporate Employee Resource Groups

Background: Nonprofit social service organizations often face challenges obtaining needed resources to support services, particularly during economic downturns.  Using an uncommon resource such as for-profit corporate employee resource groups (ERG), nonprofits can increase their opportunities to obtain resources from corporations.  ERGs have shared characteristics (e.g. race) and are sanctioned by companies for leadership development and networking of group members.  Often as part of their mission, ERGs carry out the company’s social responsibility to the communities in which they profit. 

Partnerships with corporations provide nonprofits the opportunity toward achieve their goals in the community because they can raise the nonprofit’s public image and visibility, increase interest in the organization, and enhance legitimacy as seal of approval by a corporation.  Corporate-nonprofit partnerships have been examined in academia for over 20 years with limited research from the perspective of the nonprofit and much less is known about partnering with ERGs specifically.  This paper attempts to fill the gap in the literature.

Methods:  This study examines the partnership between ERGs and a nonprofit.  Specifically, the motivation, process, and experience of the partnership were explored using the case study approach (Yin, 2003).  The study is guided by resource dependency theory in which nonprofits must acquire the needed resources for organizational development and survival (Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978).  Data sources for the project included: 1) organizational documents and emails (e.g. founding documents, board meeting minutes, and planning processes); 2) two years of board meeting observations; 3) 31 in-depth semi-structured stakeholder interviews.  With multiple sources of data, data analysis strategies used to integrate and verify the data included: 1) using case summaries to develop and cross examine findings; 2) conducting content analysis to identify an individual’s consistency of message; 3) reading and analyzing interviews for meaning; 4) identifying themes. 

Results:  Four themes were found in data analysis related to the partnership between ERG and nonprofit members.  A major natural crisis was the impetus and key leadership were important factors that contributed to the formation of the partnership and involvement of volunteers.  While ERG members were invaluable in fundraising and organizing events, their leadership styles and goals were often different than nonprofit members.  The dependence on ERG members can create a power difference for the partnership that can lead to conflicts and concerns for the future of the partnership.               

Conclusions and Implications:  In a resource dependency world, nonprofits must adapt in order to successfully obtain the needed resources.  ERGs and their members can serve as a new and powerful form of support mechanism for nonprofits.  A better resourced organization facilitates better and increased access of its services to the community in which it serves.  In forming partnerships with corporate ERGs, nonprofits may need to identify key leaders of ERGs who can deliver corporate resources such as other ERG members as volunteers, donations from the corporation, and skills nonprofits may lack in organizing fundraising events.  As in any partnership, clear communication may be necessary in order to prevent conflicts and misunderstandings.