Partnership screening guidance

How you can find great partnerships with businesses in your community.

We encourage units and members to seek out partnerships with businesses in their area.

This can be a great opportunity for fundraising, provides new and exciting experiences for our young members, and helps to strengthen local community ties.

You will need to weigh up the risks and benefits of any potential partnership. And to check that the partner has good business practices and reputation.

Follow these steps you’re considering a partnership that will give Girlguiding or our members extra benefits. Like something that’s not available to the general public, or that we’d usually have to pay for.

This could be any kind of donation like income, free advice and support or expertise, free products, discount codes, or hosting bespoke events.

For partnerships at a country and region level, volunteers should follow this process and speak to the country and region office.

Definitions

  • Screening – carrying out a risk assessment and weighing up the risks and benefits of a partnership.
  • Partners – any other organisation or major donor. This could be an individual sponsoring a unit or any other company or organisation that you are working with whereby in doing so the organisation becomes affiliated with Girlguiding.
  • Due diligence – this is the process of finding out about an organisation and understanding how they work before you partner or work with them.

Screening process

To decide if a partner is a good match, follow these steps:

  • Research them online to make sure they are not involved in any illegal activity or had any serious allegations against them.
  • Check their values and ethos are in line with our mission and policies.
  • Find out about how they work to support young people or address the gender imbalance in their industry.
  • Think about how volunteers, girls, and parents might react to you working with this company.
  • Think about the benefits to you and the company and if they outweigh any potential risks to our reputation and our members.
  • If you do find something that worries you, you might still be able to work with them. Weigh up the reputational risks and potential benefits to help you decide.
  • Keep a written note of your decision and share this with your commissioner. They can help you decide if you’re not sure.
  • Review your partner relationships annually, including existing relationships.

Advice for commissioners

If a volunteer asks for your help in deciding whether to go ahead with a partnership, review the information gathered through the screening process with them. This will help you make a judgement and decide if they should go ahead with the partnership.

If you have any questions, or need further support, contact the volunteer support team on [email protected].

Some examples

Bloggs Waste Disposal offer free tours of their recycling centre. You know other units that have been, and you'd like to plan a visit for your Brownies too. This is a publicly available offer open to all and you can book online. So, you do not need to conduct a screening.

If the company, in this case Bloggs Waste Disposal, or a volunteer is interested in working together, by creating a bespoke activity pack and badge, offering discount codes or training, or planning a takeover event where lots of units go at the same time, this would be considered a partnership. You must weigh up the risks and benefits.

It’s important to note it's not the activity that we are checking. The screening is to check if the risks of being associated with the company outweigh the benefits. You're checking that the company’s values are in line with Girlguiding’s mission and policies and that they operate in a safe and ethical way.

When carrying out a screening you might discover that Bloggs Waste Disposal have a very poor environmental record and have been caught several times dumping the waste into the ocean rather than recycling it. You may find they have a poor track record of working conditions in the waste disposal site. Or you may find other information that means you decide that you do not want to be associated with them. This can vary in each case and will be a judgment call.