Nonprofit: City Year
Company: Timberland
Timeframe: Ongoing
The Timberland Company and City Year are demonstrating that partnerships can move beyond the expected to establish a new baseline, forming a strategic and interdependent
alliance. The entities co-mingled their infrastructures to support the City Year Service Corps program in such areas as financial, staffing and operations, as well as
communications.
At first, the idea that a company would team so closely with a nonprofit organization - extending itself on a social, environmental and financial mission and focus - might seem
like questionable management. In this case, it has been a success for both parties.
City Year is a member of the AmeriCorps network and has grown into a national service organization that unites hundreds of outstanding young adults, ages 17-24, for a demanding
10 months of full-time community service in urban public education, leadership, and civic engagement. City Year sends teams of young people from diverse backgrounds into
communities in need.
Timberland has a longstanding commitment to support City Year in creative and powerful ways. Its commitment to City Year has included more than $10 million worth of resources,
strategic management collaboration, mentorship programs between employees and corps, an annual donation of pieces of apparel, gear and footwear as official uniform sponsor and
thousands of hours of service in communities around the world. City Year inspired and supports Timberland's award-winning "Path of Service" program. The Path of Service allows
employees to take 40 hours of paid time to invest in their community through service.
When Jeffrey Swartz, president and CEO of The Timberland Company, stepped up to grow the company his grandfather started and the brand his father built, he turned Timberland
into a 21st-century example for socially responsible corporations. And in April of 2000, City Year's four-member start-up team hit the ground in Stratham, NH to open City Year's
first non-urban corps, operating out of the same building as Timberland's global headquarters. Today, City Year New Hampshire has grown to 40 corps members and has the highest
retention in the network, and Timberland's unswerving support is a constant.
Partners In Success
But let's face it, successful partnerships aren't easy to establish or maintain. Many have tried and failed. A shared mission helps.
City Year and the Timberland Company collaboratively promote the concept that everyone should have the opportunity and obligation to contribute to the strength and vitality of
the community and to make it better. It's a mission both organizations stand by.
In addition, a strong communication plan helps align the program, branding and delivery. It is critical for each entity to understand the other's bottom lines and language.
Timberland and City Year achieved a seamless integration that results in a more effective organization.
The collaboration between City Year and the Timberland Company started as a simple request for a donation of 50 boots. The partnership grew and diversified. The benefits were
mutual, and they are ongoing.
Timberland continues to provide clothing, financial support, access to helpful people, and office space for the local corps. City Year continues to provide service
opportunities and training, and it makes a significant contribution to building a service culture in Timberland.
Because a partnership is not a master-servant relationship, the partners must together set the goals and tone, and they must concur on when to communicate and how, as well as
deciding how feedback will best be received and factored into the overall scheme. Decisions about outbound communications to employees, customers, other stakeholders and media
must also be addressed.
The partners also must decide what information to make public and when, as well as what results will be sought and which methods to use. Partnerships are very different from
straight philanthropy, where you have a benevolent donor and grateful recipient.
Paige Kane, director of corporate partnerships at City Year in Boston, advises: "Continue to evolve, continue to communicate, and over-communicate."
Engaging Support
To support a successful partnership, you need a champion, a torchbearer, and front-line workers in each organization.
In the case of the Timber-land and City Year collaboration, Jeffrey Swartz serves on the City Year board of trustees (now, there's a champion). Department managers oversee
working relationships and the program administration (torch bearers). In addition, workers implement the program (front line) to the youths and Timberland employees who volunteer
and participate.
Patrick Kirby, a torch bearer, is the service manager, social enterprise department, at Timberland. He says, "The program is so engrained now in our culture that it would live
in the company even if we changed CEOs." He noted that Swartz initiated the Social Enterprise Department at Timberland in 1992, which includes the Path of Service program.
The Right Messages
At City Year and the Timberland Company, messaging points are a component of training and education. Moreover, traditional internal communications tools such as e-newsletters,
group e-mails, conference calls, on- and off-site meetings and collateral, as well as regular live trainings, are necessary to relay program goals and co-branding. Service Corps
youths become active in local communities and inherit an acting brand ambassador role by virtue of having to wear uniforms. Youths participate in leadership development events
such as Opening Day, Graduation Day, Make a Difference Day, and Youth Service Day.
A communications plan helps create the space for measurement and reporting, as well as the education and training components of the program and its communications, especially
if built in at the beginning. That way, as the partnership matures, post-result communications and reporting through a CSR report, fact sheet, conference appearances, or feature
story are easier. Meanwhile, grassroots word-of-mouth has led to frequent press coverage for Timberland and City Year.
Proactive PR usually focuses on service event marketing throughout the year, rather than specifically to impress the media or the public, according to Kate King, a corporate
communications specialist at Timberland. She adds, "We also integrate and insert a supporting message for Timberland's larger and bigger picture commitment to corporate social
responsibility overall, since it is part of who we are as a company when we do focused service event media outreach."
Measuring Results
To date, City Year has produced 8,200 "alumni." A contracted research study identified that 75 percent of the participants in the City Year program became leaders in their
communities "post-graduation," according to Kane.
King says, "When [your campaign is] taught in Harvard Business School as a case study and the case gets replicated to other schools across the land, it becomes in a sense its
own advertisement." The case study is a key education and awareness-building tool that gets the work of Timberland's social entrepreneurship model out to up-and-coming MBAs.
In addition, Timberland nurtures its employees through a portfolio of self-selected "Paths of Service." According to Kirby, Timberland employees have logged 350,000 paid time
hours since the inception of the program - whether it's with City Year or other programs.
Paying attention to social results, as well as financial growth, means a company's actions link across larger stakeholder needs, including those of surrounding communities. In
particular, hot topics or issues may affect the well-being of a community upon which the company depends for the sale and/or manufacture of services and products.
Timberland and City Year's teamwork shows that heightened social commitment benefits the company, as well as the community, by adding value to its relationships with customers,
employees, boards of directors, and other stakeholders.
City Year and the Timber-land Company are living proof that partnerships guided by a clear mission and values, operating principles, cultural support, brand messaging, and
communications processes can bring triple bottom line results for the company, society and the environment.
This article was written by Susan Nickbarg, principal of SVN Marketing, a marketing and corporate social responsibility consultancy. She can be reached at [email protected]. PRN
CONTACTS:
Paige Kane, City Year,
617-927-2452
Kate King, Timberland,
603-773-1379
Patrick Kirby, Timberland,
603-773-1770
To Partner Effectively, Follow The Six C's
James E. Austin's book, "The Collaboration Challenge, is a must-read for partnerships." says Paige Kane, director of corporate partnerships, City Year, based in Boston, MA. "If
you follow the model's tenets for the Six C's for Connection with purpose and people, Clarity of purpose, Congruency of mission, strategy, and values, Creation of value,
Communication between partners, Continual learning, and Commitment to the partnership, you have the best chance for success."
Here's a quick primer for incorporating the 6 C's for collaborative partnerships in your collaborative efforts:
- Identify shared objectives and incorporate these into brand and corporate ROI and social (or environmental) success factors.
- Engage in frequent communications, especially at the beginning.
- Communicate program and brand messages throughout all organizational units.
- Treat one another as equals.
- Share control and accountability mutually.
- Identify project leads at the beginning.
- Be transparent and communicate about what is and is not being accomplished, why, and what you plan to do about any shortcomings.
Timberland created a service guidebook to explain and reinforce program standards, communications, and processes. Companies can access the service guidebook at: http://www.timberland.com/timberlandserve/timberlandserve_index.jsp. Accompanying forms and
worksheets are also available for free download