Nonprofit and Business Sector Collaboration: Towards a New Strategic Approach

Over the last few years, the advent of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has enhanced corporate social commitment and cooperation between corporations and nonprofit organisations (NPO). The development of partnerships with the nonprofit sector is an important strategic tool that enables corporations both to promote socially active attitudes and to contribute to social well-being, as well as to pursue business aims. Through the analysis of Italian and international literature, the first part of this chapter highlights three different tendencies of thought with regard to the relationship between CSR and corporate social commitment: pure profit approach, multi-stakeholder approach and social orientation approach. Secondly the chapter discusses the nonprofit-business alliances (NBAs) and classifies variables for understanding alliances’ characteristics through the analysis of Italian and international case histories. Moreover it illustrates the evolution of different types of partnerships and defines the features of the so-called integrated NBAs. The chapter ends with two best practices: Foxy for UNICEF and Ikea for UNICEF. The case histories are examples of integrated alliance. This kind of partnership represents a successful strategy enabling the corporation to combine business goals with tangible support to social cause.