Corporate sponsorship and branding were the topics of a panel discussion held yesterday at the Times Center. Organized by the Alliance for the Arts and hosted by The New York Times, the event brought together three experts on corporate philanthropy: Arthur Cohen (LaPlaca Cohen consulting), Glyn Northington (Target), and Andrew Hamingson (The Public Theater), and was moderated by Times’ culture reporter Patricia Cohen. While each speaker brought a unique perspective to the table – that of corporate community relations, nonprofit performing arts organizations, and nonprofit marketing – they seemed generally to share a common stance with regard to the panel’s theme. That stance was that corporate sponsorship, when done right, works great, so get on board. The consonance of their opinions and experience made for a coherent and informative panel, if not a particularly challenging one.
All three presenters emphasized that corporate sponsorship and philanthropy (terms they used more or less interchangeably) was about building a mutually beneficial partnership. Cohen used the metaphor of finding the right dance partner, showing a clip of Fred and Ginger and sharing Katharine Hepburn’s (in)famous quote: “He gave her class, and she gave him sex.” In the nonprofit-corporate relationship, typically the nonprofit provides visibility and the corporation supplies money. (I recommend taking a look at Cohen’s very accessible power point, "Corporate Sponsorship Now", available here.)
Northington spoke frankly about Target’s priorities in partnering with arts organizations—they want to reach a wide audience and build the Target brand through affiliations with education and family programming. Target, which commits a noteworthy 5% of its income to corporate social responsibility, tries to coordinate its branding across the organizations it supports, for example, through supporting nationwide family days and making publicity materials visually consistent.
