M's social media campaign aiming to raise £1million - this partnership really hones in on those two principles of relevance and innovation, with an incredibly close synergy between the two brands being used to drive both donations and online marketing. This is also a great example of a charity 'getting' social media, and creating their own influence rather than trying to piggyback that of others. Another excellent ey will be bound by, and what markets they will be trading within have frozen or diverted their HR, sponsorship, marketing and membership budgets alongside their CSR. Whereas previously charities and cultural organisations were able to tailor their ask towards a different angle to account for these market changes now there simply isn't anywhere else to look. Employee fundraising and cause related marketing have generally remained buoyant, but the dip in donations to even those fundraising behemoths like Comic Relief have shown the impact that our current limbo has had on the sector. It is interesting, then, that corporate fundraisers have largely opted to stay put during this period, although anecdotal evidence suggests that this is about to change. Our sector has weathered a number of storms over the past decade with the credit crunch and GDPR being amongst the largest, but what is unique about this particular challenge is how ill equipped we have been to deal with it. In the lead up to the referendum it was notable how loudly and clearly big business leaders were speaking out about the possible implications of leaving the EU. We didn't see the same positioning from charities. Whether this is because we, as a sector, are often inward looking and were therefore a victim of the bubble mentality that meant so many people didn't see this result coming, or whether the dip in public trust towards the sector combined with the turn against experts meant that we didn't want to speak out, the outcome is that there is, or was perceived to be, a lack of preparedness across much of the sector for a leave vote and the implications that would have. The charities that have flourished are those that have used this time to refocus on innovation and relevance in their corporate partnerships rather than chasing something that existed five years ago. One of my favourite examples is Fevertree and Malaria No More's social media campaign aiming to raise £1million - this partnership really hones in on those two principles of relevance and innovation, with an incredibly close synergy between the two brands being used to drive both donations and online marketing. This is also a great example of a charity 'getting' social media, and creating their own influence rather than trying to piggyback that of others. Another excellent examples is Cottages.com and the Dogs Trust. Again this partnership was based on a core shared audience and the ability to drive income for both parties. The partnership has now topped £1million from a donation equal to 10% of each accommodation booking value. What these great examples show us is that rather than casting the net wider and wider in pursuit of ever shrinking pots of corporate money, the key to success is targeted, strategic and mutually beneficial partnerships. It is my belief that every charity can find partners like these, they just need to start looking in the right places.