Tainted by association?

Partnering with a well-known NGO can be one of the most successful ways for a business to win over the public and reinforce a positive reputation – more effective than careful audits or compliance. So says recent research by Globescan, as presented by Doug Miller, President of the research firm at last week’s Business, NGOs and Development conference. While such partnerships work well for firm reputations, surveys suggest that, inversely, the NGO in the partnership typically suffers a negative hit in public opinion as a result of the link with the corporate world. Perhaps it is time to more formally incorporate such reputational factors into partnership cost/benefit analysis, and ensure suitable incentives to compensate NGOs?

Update: also see the conference's virtual resource center.