Barnardos
Building strategic corporate communications at scale
At Barnardo’s, supporting Corporate Partnerships and Fundraising, the focus was not simply on securing sponsorship. It was to help build long-term partnerships that created sustainable income and meaningful social impact.
Working with major UK brands including Asda, Royal Mail TESCO and NatWest, the project required a balance of commercial thinking, relationship management and purpose-led storytelling.
The challenge was two-fold:
First, to develop partnerships that aligned corporate objectives with Barnardo’s mission of supporting children and young people to overcome disadvantage.
Second, to ensure those partnerships were not transactional, but built around shared commitment, internal engagement and long-term value.
This involved:
developing and presenting high-level partnership proposals to senior corporate leaders
aligning brand priorities with Barnardo’s own programmes and outcomes
designing staff engagement initiatives that connected employees to the cause
supporting internal marketing and communications to maintain momentum
overseeing partnership performance and long-term relationship developmentCorporate partnerships at this level demand clarity and credibility. Senior leaders need confidence that impact is measurable, brand alignment is strong, and the relationship is professionally managed.
The work required careful positioning - articulating how investment could help children and young people escape poverty, improve life chances and build resilience, while also delivering value to corporate partners and their employees.
IMPACT
strengthened long-term partnerships with national brands
increased employee engagement across partner organisations
sustainable fundraising income to support frontline services
deeper corporate commitment beyond short-term campaigns
This experience continues to shape North 53’s approach today. Strong partnerships are built on listening, alignment and clear mutual value - not surface-level sponsorship.