Charity of the Year: Opportunity or Overrated?

Charity of the Year (COTY) partnerships are often positioned as the default corporate–charity partnership. For some organisations, they unlock significant income, profile and employee engagement. For others, they demand huge amounts of time and resources for returns that don’t live up to the promise. So how do you tell the difference?

In this session, Grahame will make the case for COTY, unpacking where these partnerships can be genuinely transformative and how charities can spot the opportunities that are worth pursuing. Drawing on practical experience, he’ll explore what a “good” COTY really looks like, what success factors are often overlooked, and how charities can position themselves to get the most from these relationships.

Taking the opposite view, Becky will challenge the COTY status quo. She’ll explore why many Charity of the Year partnerships fail to deliver real value, how power imbalances show up in practice, and why charities should be more confident in demanding better from companies. The session will culminate in a friendly head-to-head debate, teasing out when COTY is good, when it’s bad, and when it’s downright ugly: and what charities should do as a result.

Key learnings from this session:

• When Charity of the Year partnerships can be a powerful opportunity, and when they’re a red flag
• How to assess whether a COTY partnership is right for your charity before saying yes
• What charities should expect, ask for, and push back on in COTY relationships