"It's easy for nonprofits to fall into the mindset that corporate partnerships are entirely transactional: Our organizations get money in exchange for feel-good publicity for the company."
That's what LavaMaeX, a not-for-profit that brings mobile showers and other essential services to the street, has to say about its three-year, $1.275 million partnership with Unilever's Right to Shower.
Over that time, LavaMaeX was able to disperse $370,000 in grants to 28 organizations that served more than 53,000 guests in 44 US cities, and it was able to refine its one-on-one mentoring program, develop LavaMaeX Connect, a global community space where people learn how to replicate our model, and create a new toolkit for producing Pop-Up Care Villages, where guests can get haircuts, medical care, legal advice, employment assistance, and other free services.
"We never could have accomplished all this with a one-year or single-project grant," says LavaMaeX's CEO in a blog post.
But it wasn't all good news.
Right to Shower also helped the LavaMaeX create a do-it-yourself handwashing station, helped it create a 12-episode podcast, and
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Washington, D.C. based incubator for social entrepreneurs, Halcyon Incubator, has selected seven ventures to move into the newly renovated Halcyon House in September for its inaugural class of fellows.