The Ford Foundation Corporate Involvement Initiative

The Ford Foundation Corporate Involvement Initiative (CII) sought to marshal corporate resources by bringing economic opportunities to the nation’s disadvantaged and underserved communities. The $50M Initiative worked to harness the operational (not philanthropic) resources of companies in win-win partnerships that benefit companies and communities alike. Recognizing that strategic communications would be a vital component of the CII, the Foundation engaged LGI during the formative stages of the Initiative’s development to create and implement an integrated strategic marketing campaign.

The objective of the communications campaign was to create awareness of win-win strategies as a core business activity among America’s executives and to position its 45+ grantees as value added resources to business. LGI’s unique ability to understand the dynamic between Foundation and grantee enabled the team to obtain buy-in from grantees throughout the process. The team’s sensitivity to the unique nature of each grantee and the need to position them as a collective without homogenizing their unique identities was a key component of success.

The overall communications strategy was informed by original research designed and conducted by the LGI team. This included an in-depth assessment of CII grantees and national focus group research on the communications barriers and opportunities for engaging business executives and community leaders in corporate involvement. The results of the focus groups were documented in Hidden Agendas: Stereotypes and Cultural Barriers to Corporate Community Partnerships.

Following the research phase, the LGI team implemented the communications strategy and developed successful products to further the goals of the CII. Grantee capacity building was identified as a key challenge and LGI developed Speaking the Language of Business, a customized training program and handbook for advocates on effective framing and language for approaching business executives, as well as Win-Win Approaches for Working with the Media, a customized training and handbook for advocates about effective messaging through the media. In the area of awareness building, LGI created Win-Win: Competitive Advantage Through Community Investment, a publication designed for business executives, and conducted outreach to journalists. Media relations activities on behalf of the CII and its grantees resulted in coverage in major outlets from BusinessWeek to CNBC.

LGI Communications launched winwinpartner.com, the first online information clearinghouse on win-win strategies designed specifically for business executives. The Web site features over 60 corporate success stories, 200+ up-to-date research reports on the benefits of investing in low-income communities, and detailed profiles/contact information for the CII grantees. Site traffic averages 25,000 unique visits and 450,000 hits per month.

According to a study by independent Echo Research that tracked media coverage of corporate responsibility, coverage increased substantially during the culminating years of the marketing communications outreach: with increases of 52% during the first year and 401% during the last year.

Other LGI community economic development success stories include Project California, The Aspen Institute, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and many others.