Hear directly from leading expert in corporate-nonprofit partnerships, Darell Hammond, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of KaBOOM! and Board Member of Independent Sector in this conversation about KaBOOM!'s success stories, learnings, and advice about corporate-nonprofit partnerships.

IS: Tell us about KaBOOM! and its overall involvement with partnerships.

DH: Partnerships are an essential component of the KaBOOM! mission, which is to create healthy play opportunities for children by bringing together individuals, organizations and business to lead community-building playground projects, to educate the public on the value of community-centered play, and to advocate for more safe and accessible playgrounds for children where they are needed most. Through this mission, KaBOOM! seeks to create sustainable positive change in communities nationally. 

From its start in 1995 through 2002, there are more than 400 KaBOOM! playgrounds across the U.S. , and in Canada, London, Bermuda and Puerto Rico. KaBOOM! also has led enhancements at more than 1,100 other playgrounds and parks. In 2002, the organization launches a new, free online service that helps community groups to manage community-build playground projects called Playground Planner™; it also moves into skatepark territory with a new urban skateparks program and publication. All told, the organization has spearheaded an investment of more than $20 million in playgrounds through corporate and foundation support, licensing partnerships, merchandising and individual contributions. Its corporate partners include The Home Depot, CNA Foundation, Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc., Snapple Beverages, Sprint Foundation, Computer Associates and Motorola.

IS: KaBOOM! has amazing partnerships with corporations like Home Depot, Walgreens, Target, and CNA Foundation. From your tremendous experiences with corporate-nonprofit partnerships, what are the greatest lessons you have learned?

DH:  You're right—we do have, and have always had, some amazing partnerships with amazing partners. I have to give credit where it's due and say that the programs we've done have been as awesome as the people we've worked with to do them. We're fortunate in that the companies we've picked as partners, and those that have picked us, have consistently viewed community investment, employee team-building and philanthropy has business strategies, not something to do at the end of the day if the resources are still there.

So, one of the lessons we've learned is to pick the right partners, to be honest. We jokingly say that we start our best partnerships by dating our sponsors and not rushing the process. This can be difficult because, sometimes, as a nonprofit organization, you really want to “go for the funding”—like any business, KaBOOM! has operations to support, but we've also got this great mission to address: We get calls weekly from communities that have simply come to the end of their road, raised all the money they can, and still don't have a single playground for their children. That is motivation for us. But we do not let the need drive the corporate partnership only. We let mutual needs and solutions drive it, because only then can we truly be a partner with our sponsors/donors.

So, we date each other. We invite potential partners to see us in action, at a playground or skatepark construction day, or presenting at one of our training conferences. Then, we ask if we can meet and talk with them, to learn their intentions, you might say. We hear what motivates them, what other types of charities they support, and what has worked well in the past. As with any honest courting couple, we tell them everything about us that we can—we explain how their funding will be used, we show them what their investment will do for a particular child-care center or community. Our books are open, and so are our minds. We aim for lots of give-and-take so that, once the KaBOOM! program is completed, every partner will be pleased—the donor, the community, and KaBOOM!. 

The program sort of represents the “marriage”—one with a future, we hope, because if we've successfully accomplished a single project then there is a rationale for working together again.

It might be helpful to know that our retention rate is good among our corporate and civic sponsors: Our 2003 partners include: The Home Depot, funding partner since 1995; CNA since 1997; Target Corp. since 1998; Motorola and AAOS since 1999; Computer Associates since 2000; and the Sprint Foundation since 2001.

IS: What would be your key advice to corporations and nonprofit organizations seeking to enter, sustain, and/or grow effective partnerships? 

DH:  For both sectors, I'd encourage the kind of curiosity we see in children when they're first exploring science or reading a new book—an honest, open kind of curiosity that emerges vividly when learning is happening. At times, I think that in our rush to raise funds and meet business goals, the nonprofit and the corporation fail to learn enough about each other to ensure that their missions and goals match. Then, when it turns about to be an oil-and-water mix, the partners might face a nonprofit board that never wants to try corporate partnerships again, or a corporate executive who's been burned by a cause-marketing experience and shies away from another try.

So, to corporations, be curious and explore; share what you can about your goals, so that the nonprofit clearly knows the benchmarks. And listen well to what the nonprofit's mission, programs and capabilities are so that you best know how your support will directly impact and grow that group, rather than take distract it from its vision. Finally, look for ways to leverage your support of your nonprofit partners, doing nothing in a vacuum and realizing that to maximize your contributions you have to look for ways to involve many stakeholders within your company.

One piece of advice we share and discuss with many nonprofit organizations is that donor service is the key to donor retention—whether the donor is a middle-income individual who writes a $25 check, or a major corporation. The best and brightest nonprofit organizations know this already—they lead the way in fundraising and programs because they understand how to work with and appreciate their donors. We consider these organizations our mentors, and we also take a service-driven approach to working with donors of all types.

We try to show our donors that there are a variety of ways to support our mission, funding being just one. We don't want them to write a check with lots of zeros—that'd be nice, don't get me wrong!—but we really want them to consider a “blank” check to indicate they are open to ideas for how to make the most of their support of child's play with us. And guess what: The best resource that we derive from that kind of partnership is people—volunteers who come from different departments and levels of a sponsor's organization, giving us champions and cheerleaders through the organization and making us more resistant to losing support if any one cheerleader leaves the organization.

Our most powerful, sustainable project results come when we are able to build a relationship between a company and a community that is driven by a shared vision, shared power, shared resources, shared responsibility, and shared accountability. We help funding partners “do with, not do unto”—our community build process creates a context that let's communities and companies each share their strength, each take a leadership stake as they work with us on a 15-week planning process leading up to a playground's Build Day. KaBOOM! adds value as a facilitator—helping to bridge the knowledge and cultural gaps that often occur when individuals of such diverse backgrounds meet, and helping to monitor issues of ethics, disclosure, power, mission, and community impact. The results are powerful—and strengthen both employee teams and the community we work with. At the end of a Build Day, corporate and community volunteers stand together looking at the playground they have created and say not just ‘look what we did', but ‘look what we can do!'.

DH:  Certainly there are challenges to corporate-nonprofit partnerships, if only considering the economy. Today, there are more nonprofit organizations seeking support from fewer corporate sources than ever before. The market is competitive, you might say.

Whether there are trends to respond to these challenges, I don't know. What I do know is that KaBOOM! continues to focus on making itself a strong organization for the long-haul by leading community-build playground projects, educating the public on the value of play, and advocating for safe, accessible and well-designed playgrounds wherever they are needed. We believe that a healthy KaBOOM! makes for healthy partnerships. It's akin to what you're told on an airplane: When the cabin is losing oxygen, put on your mask first, and then help others around you. 

That said, I believe, economic times being what they are, nonprofits improve their ability to attract new corporate support by demonstrating an ability to be accountable to goals—to be able to measure what they've done with the investments made in their work.

Finally, KaBOOM! also tries to show potential sponsors how our program can work synergistically with their specific goals, employee culture, brand name, or the like. You could call this program customization, though the end result must meet our mission by helping us lead more playground builds, educate consumers or advocate for child's play.

IS:  Is there anything else you would like to share with us?

DH:  You ask about our current partnerships. We'd like to tell you about our two longest-running partnerships—The Home Depot and CNA Financial Corp.—as well as some of our licensing and team-building partners.

As the first corporate supporter of KaBOOM!, The Home Depot has been a phenomenal partner. It has built more playgrounds with us than any other entity, and in 2002 will celebrate its 100th KaBOOM! playground. They push us to reach our mission in creative ways. Together we have built racing-themed playgrounds with help from NASCAR legend Tony Stewart, leveraged their sponsorship of the Academy of County Music awards with a playground build in the hometown of the Humanitarian of the Year, and launched a national playground improvement "blitz" program and a challenge grant program. The Home Depot has also supported our brand and operations, from creating television commercials about community-build playgrounds, to providing donated office space for our newly established Atlanta satellite office, to referring us to its vendors for potential support to raising operational funds for us through special events.

The CNA partnership with KaBOOM! began in 1997 as a simple corporate team-building event celebrating the company's centennial anniversary. The CNA Foundation then became the founding sponsor of our three-year LET US PLAY campaign, committing to build 50 playgrounds in 25 cities. Since then, CNA has committed to fund and build an additional 20 playgrounds, and the partnership is as strong as ever. Supporting our operations, CNA donates our Chicago office space and provisions, and for two years has underwritten the production of our mainstay publication, The Getting Started Kit. It developed a strategic plan for us in 1998, underwrote an exhibit conference tour for us in 2000, and has earmarked special events to raise funds for our work.

KaBOOM! ventured into licensing partnerships in 2001, beginning with a trusted partner and well-respected socially responsible company, Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc. That year, Ben & Jerry's launched KaBerry KaBOOM! ice cream, a special flavor featuring crackling candies that went KaBOOM! in your mouth. The proceeds from the flavor raised funds for four playgrounds that year. This year, we're continuing our Ben & Jerry's licensing agreement, and now are also working with Snapple Beverages, Putumayo World Music, and Fairytale Brownies to promote our mission.

We consider these and other favorite “Partners in Play” such as Computer Associates, Sprint Foundation and Motorola to be “co-owners” of the community playground movement. They contribute money, product donations, operations and marketing support, and the volunteer time of their employees, and we make sure that their investment yields a concentrated, high-impact, high profile “total investment” in the health of children and the health of communities where their employees and customers live and work.

Darell Hammond is Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder of KaBOOM!, responsible for overall management of the $3 million nonprofit organization that has coordinated the construction of nearly 300 playgrounds since its 1995 launch. Darell manages a team of 19 staff members—motivating, inspiring and leading them toward organizations and professional growth. He also is the chief liaison to the Board of Directors, and a frequent speaker at national conferences and conventions, and a board member of The Independent Sector.

Darell has been a leader in community service programs for more than 10 years. Prior to founding KaBOOM! with Dawn Hutchinson (now a board member), Darell was a member of the start-up team for City Year Chicago, an affiliate of the national youth service organization. There, he served as a team leader for a diverse group of 11 corps members, supervising service projects and teaching individual leadership development. Prior to City Year, Darell studied for a semester in an Urban Studies Program, working at the Chicago Park District and mentored by John Kretzmann, a Northwestern University educator. Kretzmann's book, Building Communities from the Inside Out, and his lessons were important factors in shaping Darell's approach to assets-based community development.

Darell's work on behalf of KaBOOM! has been featured in several books, including Built from Scratch, by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, and Common Interest, Common Good, by Shirley Sagawa and Eli Segal. Further, his leadership of KaBOOM! has led to the organization's national recognition: In Fall 2002, KaBOOM! is the subject of a Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration case study; in 2001, KaBOOM! received the Chairman's Commendation from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, only the sixth such award presented in the five prior years, for its work in playground safety; in 2000, the Peter F. Drucker Foundation honored its annual training conference, the KaBOOM! Playground Institute, with a special innovation award. Additionally, in 2001 Ben & Jerry's Homedmade, Inc., named its first ice cream flavor after a nonprofit organization: KaBerry KaBOOM! went on to raise funds to build four community playgrounds.