Policy for Corporate Engagement
Mission Statement
The Natural History Museum (NHM) maintains and develops its col ections and uses them to
promote the discovery, understanding, responsible use and enjoyment of the natural world.
Guiding Principles
1. The NHM is happy to work with any company if by doing so they can be confident that the
Museumâs aims and mission wil be furthered. This stance is clear and simple and means
that no sector or company is
per se excluded.
2. Potential support from individuals, corporations or sectors where there may be a conflict
with the NHMâs mission wil be subject to a rigorous assessment procedure as outlined in
the attached Guidelines for Fundraising, Sponsorship and Corporate Partnership.
Decision Making Authority and Responsibility
1. After completion of the review process, as outlined in the attached Guidelines, where a
potential relationship is deemed to be low risk by the Evaluation Panel, responsibility for
determining whether to proceed lies with the Director of Public Engagement and the Head
of Development.
2. Where the Evaluation Panel makes a referral to Directorsâ Group, the authority for
determining whether to proceed with a relationship rests with the Director of the Museum
in consultation with the Directorsâ Group.
3. The final decision rests with the Director of the Museum.
4. At the discretion of the Director, a decision may be referred to the Board of Trustees for an
ultimate recommendation.
5. The Board of Trustees wil receive a short report that includes the rationale for the decision
taken on al cases referred to the Director and Directorsâ Group.
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Procedure for Corporate Engagement
Remit
The Natural History Museum works with a range of companies across a broad spectrum of
activities. This document outlines the procedures the Museum wil adopt with respect to
fundraising and the commercial sponsorship of projects, events and exhibitions, and programme
partnerships (including commercial partnerships, licensing, investment partners and strategic
al iances). The guidelines do not cover procurement, consultancy work and services provided by the
Museum to a third party or vice versa. The guidelines do not cover external Events hire.
The Process
1. In advance of a formal meeting with a potential corporate supporter or partner, the
Development Department Research Team wil complete a brief company profile. The
purpose of this document is to provide the fundraising staff with basic information on a
range of areas including the companyâs geographic and business focus, its key decision
makers, and existing voluntary sector partnerships. At this stage, this basic profile wil not
take perceived ethical considerations into account although it is likely to highlight any
initial areas of potential concern.
2. Subsequent meetings between the NHM and the potential corporate partner on joint
working wil provide the opportunity for both parties to provide information on mission,
corporate objectives, and future plans. If it is agreed at this stage that the opportunity
exists to develop a relationship further under a specific area of work (e.g. exhibition
sponsorship, Learning, scientific partnership), the Development Research Team wil conduct
a ful and comprehensive review of the potential partner (details of the content of the
review are shown in Appendix 1). The review wil be a factual y based document and wil
not contain recommendations.
3. An Evaluation Panel consisting of Senior Museum representatives with expertise in the
given area wil evaluate the potential partner against the information contained within the
review in four key categories. The Evaluation Panel, appointed and endorsed by the
Director, wil consist of five permanent members who wil each be a specific category
owner. The categories and panel members assigned to each are:
a)
Neutral Chair â Special Adviser, Directorate
b)
Public Reputation Risk â Head of Media Relations
c)
Scientific Reputation Risk and Mission Affinity â Science Policy Coordinator
Partner Value â Head of Development/Head of Business Strategy
d)
Brand Alignment â Head of Communications
The panel wil meet on a monthly basis when necessary. In the event of a panel member being
absent, a Deputy wil be appointed from within the Panel to sit in their place. By agreement, the
Chair may co-opt specific individuals with additional relevant expertise onto the Panel. In
general, the expected turn-around time for al ocating a score wil be 48 hours.
The category owners wil score a potential partner against an agreed scoring system, providing
rationale for the al ocated score. The proposed scoring system is shown in Appendix 2. A
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partner receiving a score below an agreed threshold wil not be considered a risk. Those above
the threshold value wil require consideration by Directorsâ Group.
4. Directorsâ Group wil receive three documents in advance of their meeting:
(i) The Development Department Review documentation
(ii) The Evaluation Panel scoring documentation
(iii) A Directorsâ Group paper providing the reasoning behind the scores and outlining the
reasons for referral and possible courses of action.
The Chair of the Evaluation Panel (or Deputy) wil attend the Directorsâ Group meeting to
provide a summary of the process and discussions relating to the partner under consideration
and to answer any specific points raised regarding the above. The meeting should result in a
decision on whether a relationship with the partner should be developed or pursued no further.
The decision should be communicated to Development and/or Commercial Department and
appropriate action taken.
In exceptional circumstances, the Director may wish the Board of Trustees of the Natural History
Museum to make the final recommendation. In al cases, the Board of Trustees wil be provided
with a short report on al cases where a potential partner exceeded the risk threshold along with a
rationale for the subsequent decision on engagement.
The Guidelines for Fundraising, Sponsorship and Corporate Partnership and the Process of
Corporate Engagement outlined above need to be interpreted within The Institute of Fundraisingâs
Codes of Fundraising Practice, specifical y their papers on âCharities working with Businessâ and
âThe Acceptance and Refusal of Donationsâ. Copies are available within the Museumâs
Development Department or can be downloaded from
www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk
*For the purposes of this process, a Partnership is defined as the Natural History Museum working
together with a company to meet mutual goals. This definition does not include a financial
transaction alone.
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Appendix 1.
Corporate Review â Areas included in the review and sources
Key areas included within a ful review include:
ďˇ Confirmation of solvency and any associated information
ďˇ Confirmation of company listings and information pertaining to the legitimacy of the
company.
ďˇ Information on recent (up to and including the last 24 months or from the date of the
previous NHM review) general news items covering business activity, âstate of healthâ (i.e.
profits warnings, takeovers, and de-mergers), and specific issues relating to the company
covered in key âreputableâ sources i.e. The Times and Financial Times, The Guardian, The
Daily Telegraph and The Independent. These newspapers are selected to provide a
balanced view on the issues identified.
ďˇ Information from the company itself on historical environmental and social performance.
The review would seek to identify a Corporate Social Responsibility Policy, an
Environmental Policy and information on good environmental practice, and information on
a range of social and human rights issues.
ďˇ Information resulting from searches carried against the Ethical Consumer Research
Association database â Corporate Critic. The database indexes and rates the CSR records of
over 15,000 company groups both private and publicly listed. Research is categorised by
five broad ethical areas and then rated.
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Appendix 2.
Corporate Evaluation Model and Associated Scoring System
In order for us to take a more objective and integrated view of potential partnerships across the
Museum, the fol owing model has been developed through which we can determine the value of
our external partnerships and the potential risks associated with any association. The model has
been based on the market valuation model used for determining our audience priorities and that
used for valuing and delivering accreditation.
There four categories that form the basis for the evaluation process. These are:
1)
Public Reputation Risk â the extent to which an association with a company could
damage the Natural History Museumâs reputation as an authoritative, trusted voice on
environmental and conservation issues in the eyes of the general public and our key non-
scientific stakeholders.
2)
Scientific Reputation Risk and Mission Affinity â the extent to which an association
with a company could damage the Natural History Museumâs reputation among peers in the
scientific community and conflict with the stated aims of our Mission. The Museum is
recognised international y as an organisation that produces objective scientific research
based on rigorous and sound scientific principles in our core areas of activity. The
Museumâs mission encompasses responsible use of the natural world.
3)
Brand Alignment â the extent to which the partnerâs brand contributes to the reach and
reputation of the Museumâs own brand. For example, whether the partner brand has
resonance with an audience and/or market, that the Museum is trying to reach; or whether
the partner brandâs values match those of the Museumâs and wil contribute to our brand
position.
4)
Partner Value - the level to which a partnership with the company enables the Museum to
deliver its mission and corporate objectives whether via financial, technological, creative, or
gift in kind support or in the development, content or delivery of a specific project and
whether the partner brand can help us deliver additional revenue by association with that
brand.
Scoring System
A valuation wil be undertaken scoring each potential partner on a scale of 1-10 against the 4
categories described above. For categories 1 and 2 (Public and Science Reputation risk / Mission
Affinity), a score of 1 = low risk and 10 = high risk. For categories 3 and 4 (Brand Alignment and
Partner Value), a reverse score system operates where a score of 1 = high (premier) value and 10 =
tertiary value.
With four categories, each potential partner wil receive a score of between 4 and 40. Any
company with a score of less than 20 and scores of less than 7 in the first two categories is
considered low risk and/or positive brand and partner with which to be associated. A potential
partner with a score greater than 20, or scores greater than 7 in the first two categories represents
a significant risk to the Museum and therefore wil be referred to the Directorsâ Group for
consideration.
Responsible Owner: Policy Adviser, Directorate
Policy Approved: Directorsâ Group, 1 August 2006
Review of Policy and Panel Update: 1 August 2007
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