By Mike Gianoni, President, CEO and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, Blackbaud
As the election season hits its stride, the spotlight has turned toward the role of government in improving our society and leading the path forward. In my discussions within the business community, this focus has largely touched on market stability, public-private partnerships, and regulatory frameworks.
However, I’d like to shift the conversation to an often-overlooked and undervalued form of collaboration—between businesses and nonprofits. While we may lack a catchy, household label like “public-private partnerships,” the potential impact of scaling these efforts is significant and untapped.
I know this to be true anecdotally and professionally, as CEO of Blackbaud. Emerging trends and new data research are also now signaling promising tailwinds for this form of growth.
The Win-Win Mindset
For businesses, it’s simply good business to do more good. Partnerships with nonprofits and other social impact initiatives are one of the unique ways that businesses can drive positive change horizontally across their organizational needs. It deepens ties with communities, improves culture and motivation, and boosts brands. It also builds customer affinity and loyalty. In moments of sustained uncertainty–like we’ve been experiencing of late–corporate giving, volunteerism, and generosity are tried and true ways to improve an organization.
The benefits are clear for nonprofits as well, both for diversifying revenue streams and expanding ties to their local ecosystems. These relationships can prove a powerful source not just of revenue for a nonprofit, but of everyday volunteers and advocates for their cause, of which businesses are natural and prominent conveners through their access to wide bases of employees. For these reasons and more, corporate philanthropic giving is one of the fastest growing categories, with an average growth rate of 14.3% in the last five years according to Giving USA’s reporting.
Public Trust & The Emerging Opportunity
Many institutions in the U.S. are facing a legitimacy crisis, with the public’s trust declining in sectors like government, business, and the media. It’s a formidable challenge facing democracies across the globe.
Civil society and the social sector, on the other hand, have maintained steady credibility—although researchers observed a 7% decline from 2022 to 2023, before bouncing back in 2024. It ranks as the sector the public trusts the most, according to the Independent Sector.
This moment provides an opening for businesses and nonprofits to join forces to a much greater degree, filling the void in leadership that communities are calling for. Communities win when their organizations move forward with their shared values and commitments, embodied so well by cross-sector partnerships. Businesses are strengthened when civil society’s halo extends to them and their brands.
I see this every year across the United States and in my home of South Carolina, where Blackbaud is headquartered. We proudly stand alongside our partners like the International African American Museum in Charleston and the American Heart Association. Communities across the country know they can rely on institutions like these to be on the frontlines of progress and positive impact.
It’s Needed Now More Than Ever Before
The past half decade has indeed felt like a rollercoaster, both locally and globally. From the unprecedented disruption of the pandemic to its turbulent aftermath, some argue we’re in a moment of “polycrisis.”
Younger generations are particularly engaged and attuned to the need for prioritizing solutions, and we must listen and adapt. More than eight in ten Gen Zers report that they support nonprofit organizations or causes in some way, according to Blackbaud’s own research. When it comes to careers, 57% of Gen Zers also say that whether their workplace has a volunteering program is important to them.
A wider shift has also emerged across the giving landscape, with recent data finding that fewer Americans are making charitable contributions—despite overall giving rising year-over-year (in terms of total dollars). Research points to lingering economic uncertainty following the Great Recession, declining rates of religiosity, and new tax policies that disincentivize giving.
These warning signs have inspired the work of the Generosity Commission, which I proudly co-chair alongside Jane Wales and is a project of The Giving Institute and Giving USA Foundation.
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There are indeed a number of challenges today preventing business-nonprofit collaborations from taking off. Unfavorable macroeconomic conditions and other external obstacles hamper growth. If “purpose” is not already a core part of a company’s culture, it can prove difficult to align with causes and advance win-wins.
I’ve been in tech and business for a long time and have seen how cycles like these can shift. It can feel like a moving target.
The underlying foundations for business-nonprofit collaboration, however, remain steady and favorable, and we must lean in more. Polling from the Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals (ACCP) and YourCause from Blackbaud for example found that nearly three in four private sector leaders (71%) report an increase in demand for their impact to be measured, up from 54% the year prior.
In the business community, we must continue applying similar vigor to generosity and impact that we bestow on traditional business decisions. CEOs like myself must empower our teams and managers with the tools, data, and guidance to pursue opportunities with nonprofit partners, measure progress, and deepen impact. From the top down, leaders must foster a culture of generosity and collaboration that allows it to spread across all levels.
When we as businesses make it easy to participate in generosity—through employee workplace giving, volunteer partnership opportunities, and even alongside our consumers and purchasers—we are doing valuable work that lifts up all sectors and communities. Whether a company of twenty employees or twenty thousand plus, businesses can play a leading role.
In return, I invite our civil society partners to continue opening themselves up for partnership. To ask more of the private sector and be creative and open-minded in proposing initiatives.
In a few days, the Generosity Commission will release its much anticipated “Everyday Actions, Extraordinary Potential: The Power of Giving and Volunteering” report. The seminal message is that we all have a role to play—that we can scale generosity and reverse recent declines. Let’s start by committing to a new chapter in business-nonprofit collaboration.