How ODIG funding helped WWF Adria from 3 to 9 corporate partnerships

WWF Adria appointed an individual digital resource mobilization officer and a corporate engagement manager, which significantly enhanced professionalization. Previously, their director of communications had overseen these responsibilities. The two specialists not only improved the understanding of the need for individual giving and corporate partnerships among the conservation team members but also fostered a more collaborative approach across the organisation.  

Today, the conservation experts work together with the corporate engagement manager on proposals, in meetings as needed, and implement projects such as fish assessments, which was previously not the case. 

WWF Adria’s CRM system tracks donations from individual donors and generates various reports. When a new feature was added to monitor all meetings at corporate and policy level, the information was centralized, ensuring a more coordinated and effective engagement strategy across the organisation.  

WWF Adria created several campaigns aiming at increasing unrestricted income, as well as reaching new audiences. One such example was a targeted campaign with a local travel influencer, who significantly amplified digital outreach and engagement efforts. While all in all the digital fundraising results have been lower than expected, they have now more than doubled to 50.000 euros annually, with a marketing investment of 25.000 euros.  

WWF Adria developed two new public sector partnerships and now leads 12 public sector funded projects, with a total annual value of 1.089.202 euros (up from 10 projects at the beginning of ODIG). However, to see a major shift in a public sector funded project portfolio, three years is not enough, especially to win large, demanding EU programmes.    

Since 2023, WWF Adria developed nine corporate partnerships, with a total value of new contracts of 227’200 euros and royalties of 186’097 euros (up from three partnerships at the beginning of ODIG). Out of the nine, two partnerships were extended in a second and third year, and two partnerships are in progress to be extended. There are currently also six new partnerships in the pipeline. An important partnership example is with the Valamar hotel chain - Croatia’s largest hotel company. It will have the potential to become transformational, setting a precedent for sustainable practices in the hospitality industry.  Another example is the continued partnership with Intesa SanPaolo Bank, which led to the development of so-called urban food forests in city centres and/or schools, allowing citizens to access fresh fruit. The partnership has now branched into several different streams, including creating a first of its kind green finance mechanism for commercial clients to invest into WWF biodiversity projects. 

Answer: We use various approaches and tactics:  

• We engage with business associations, trade associations and other multiplier organizations to access the most prominent companies in the market and to promote our work, and to engage with companies to learn about their priorities, sectoral trends, key market pressures, etc.
• Learning about various corporate strategies related to sustainability is one of the key activities providing us with important information about options to engage companies and develop partnerships.  
• Participation in various conferences, panels and business gatherings is also a good way to promote our work, present options for partnerships and also position WWF as a solution-oriented organisation.  
• We build early relationships and trust through smaller philanthropic activities. Corporates are usually ready to initially provide smaller donations for specific projects and use that to evaluate the partnership with WWF, build rapport and move on to bigger things. That is why our first delivery must be impactful and of good quality, even if the funding is modest, as that is usually how we can expect to move the relationship to more long-term and financially impactful projects.  

The recipe for success is to be proactive, to develop proposals that are aligned with WWF goals and strategies, but also clearly fit with companies’ objectives and strategic priorities.    

Answer: We engaged with several corporate partners in discussions on transformational work but realised that in our region this is not a likely outcome. The sustainability agenda and nature protection are not high on the list of priorities of the companies and majority of consumers in our region. Markets are price-sensitive, therefore the corporate sector does not yet feel significant pressure from consumers to invest into sustainability. Also, there are six non-EU member states in our region without strict EU compliance and standards binding the corporate sector, and over 95 percent of all registered companies in Croatia and Serbia fall into the category of micro, small and medium sized, which makes the pool of potential big corporate partners who are generally capable of engaging in transformational work very limited.  Therefore, our approach focuses on philanthropic activities and global partnerships as a door opener. This has proven to be a more pragmatic and fruitful approach so far.

In digital fundraising we tried numerous campaigns. One campaign we conducted this spring was intended to function as a "swear jar." For every curse word uttered, we encouraged people to donate one euro into our digital “swear jar”. While the campaign achieved good visibility, it did not translate into significant financial gains, and it served as a good practical lesson that not every trendy campaign is a successful fundraising opportunity with high enough conversion rates.