REVISED
City of Riverside
COR
PORATE PARTNERSHIP POLICY
Approved by the City Council on May 5, 2020
PURPOSE:
The Corporate Partnership Program seeks opportunities for the City of Riverside to generate revenue and other resources from partnerships with the corporate community in order to support and enhance municipal services and programs in the City. The City of Riverside recognizes that third parties may become corporate partners in the sponsorship of City-approved programs where such partnerships are mutually beneficial to both parties and the sponsorship is consistent with all applicable policies, resolutions and ordinances set forth by the City.
This policy provides guidelines for developing and managing the Corporate Partnership Program to ensure that all corporate partnerships support the City of Riverside’s principles and goals of providing high quality service to the community while remaining responsive to the public’s needs and values.
The objective of the Corporate Partnership Program is to establish and guide relationships with existing and potential corporate partners who share the City’s commitment to providing the highest-quality civic environment throughout the City of Riverside in order to generate additional revenue to support new and existing services, programs and events.
Under the conditions set forth in this policy, City staff, or a designated representative acting on behalf of the City, may solicit corporate partnerships for the City of Riverside.
This policy does not apply to the naming of city-owned land, buildings and facilities, which is addressed in Administrative Manual Policy Number 01.021.00.
POLICY:
A. Definitions
1. City Asset – tangible or intangible items of value that are owned and operated by the City of Riverside
, including, but not limited to, buildings, fleets, events, programs, objects, spaces, and marketing resources.
2. Corporate Partnership – a mutually beneficial business arrangement between the City and a third part
y that provides cash and/or in-kind goods or services in support of a City program, project, ser
vice, event, or facility in return for marketing benefits.
3. Donation – any item of value given to the City by a donor who expects nothing significant of value in return, other than recognition and disposition of the gift in accordance with the donor’s wishes. Donations may be offered in
the form of cash and real or personal
property.
4. Marketing benefits – opportunities provided to a corporate partner for temporary visi bility of branding,
products, name and/or logo on City assets.
Date: 5-5-20
Item No.: 19
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5. Request for Sponsorship – an open and competitive process where third parties may express an interest in participating in corporate partnership opportunities with the City of Riverside.
B. Principles and Guidelines
1. Corporate partnerships should be designed to protect the brand and visual integrity of the City of Riverside. Marketing benefits should be compatible with design standards of City facilities, events or programs as defined in the City’s Municipal Code and the Brand Management and Style Guide.
2. At all times, recognition for corporate partners must be evaluated to ensure the City is not faced with undue commercialism and is consistent with the scale of each partner’s contribution.
3. Restrictions on Partnerships:
a. In general, the following industries are not eligible for corporate partnerships with the City of Riverside:
i. Parties not in full compliance with city ordinances and/or policies. ii. Age restricted businesses when the targeted audience of the event or program is youth under the legal age required to consume the product being marketed. iii. Parties involved in a lawsuit with the City of Riverside. iv. Parties involved in any stage of negotiations for a city contract unless the contract is directly linked to a marketing partnership opportunity. v. Political/partisan organizations th at promote a campaign, measure or candidate for public office.
b. Partnerships with religious organizations, companies or groups shall be permitted provided the terms of the partnership neither promotes religious messages, nor advocates for religious beliefs.
c. The City may elect to enter into corporate partnerships with restricted partners when it is deemed appropriate for the project. The decision to enter into marketing partnership with a restricted partner requires a majority vote of the City Council. d. The City may elect to not enter into agreements with partners whose activities do not reflect or support the ethics and values that have been formally accepted by City Council.
C. Procedures
1. Unsolicited Corporate Partnerships:
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a. Third parties interested in establishing an unsolicited corporate partnership with the City of Riverside must submit a written proposal to the City, which shall include a scope of the proposed partnership including, but not limited to:
i. Description of the partner organization
ii. Summary of corporate partnership
iii. Benefits to the City of Riverside
iv. City asset(s) requested for marketing benefit
v. Projected costs and revenues
vi. Staffing responsibilities of all parties
vii. Demographic profile of community/sub-groups targeted through corporate partnership
b. All proposals will be reviewed by the Revenue Generation Committee based on their commercial value and ease of implementation. Proposals that are deemed qualified will be referred for approval according to the guidelines identified in Section D.1 of this policy.
c. The City has the right to approve any corporate partnership proposal to ensure there are no conflicts of interest and that all content will be general public appropriate. Such approval will not be unreasonably conditioned, withheld or delayed and, in all circumstances, a response will be provided to the prospective partner in writing, which may include e-mail, within one month of the prospective partners’ submission of their proposal.
2. Solicited Corporate Partnerships:
a. The Revenue Generation Committee may solicit third parties with corporate partnership opportunities for certain City programs, events or facilities when deemed appropriate;
b. All third-party prospects may be reviewed by the City Attorney’s Office and the Finance Department prior to solicitation to determine if there are any conflicts of interest;
c. Informational materials on corporate partnership opportunities distributed to third parties will include:
i. Description of event/program
ii. Metrics for the event/program
iii. Corporate Partnership application
iv. Sponsorship Levels and benefits
d. Corporate partnership opportunities result ing from the City’s solicitation will be evaluated by the Revenue Generation Committee based on the alignment of corporate goals to the event(s) and/or program(s) being sponsored and the return on investment Corporate Partnership Policy Page 4 of 4
of costs associated with the sponsorship. Proposals that are deemed qualified will be referred for approval according to the guidelines identified in Section D.1 of this policy.
3. The City Attorney’s Office will draft a corporate partnership agreement based on the agreed upon terms to assure that policy, operations and legal issues are addressed and there is no uncertainty between the City’s goals and the bidder’s approach.
D. Authority
1. Corporate partnership agreements with non-restricted partners are subject to the following approval authority:
a. Corporate partnerships with a monetary or in-kind value of $50,000 or less require approval of the Department Director and Assistant City Manager. b. Corporate partnerships with a monetary or in-kind value between $50,000 - $100,000 require approval of the Department Director, Assistant City Manager and City Manager.
c. Corporate partnerships with a monetary or in-kind value between $100,000 - $250,000 require approval of the City Manager, Mayor and Mayor Pro-Tempore. d. Corporate partnerships with a monetary or in-kind value over $250,000 require approval of the City Council.
2. Any partnership that, in the opinion of the Revenue Generation Committee, could be potentially controversial, or is proposed by a restricted partner identified in Section B.3.a. of this policy, will be presented to the City Council for review and approval.
3. The Department Director shall have authority to appropriate allocate all revenues received through the Corporate Partnership Program in accordance with the terms of the agreement. A report of all revenues received and expended through the Corporate Partnership Program will be reported to the City Council on an annual basis.
E. Corporate Partnership Revenues
1. Revenues generated from the Corporate Partnership Program will be used to fulfill any financial obligations required by the City to carry out the marketing benefits identified in the partnership agreement.
2. Any remaining revenues will be used to support the direct costs associated with the event or program being sponsored and will not be used to justify additional program costs.
F. Responsibilities
1. All corporate partnership activities will be coordinated by the Revenue Generation Committee under the direction of the City Manager’s Office.
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2. The Revenue Generation Committee will be responsible for:
a. Implementing the citywide Revenue Generation Program; b. Providing guidance to all City departments regarding the interpretation and application of this policy;
c. Providing assistance and advice to departments regarding corporate partnership activities;
d. Reviewing and assisting in the development of partnership arrangements as requested;
e. Tracking and reporting on an annual basis all marketing partnerships developed by City Departments.
G. Benefit Guidelines
1. Marketing benefits may vary according to the duration and exposure of the partnership.
Depending on the details of the Partnership Agreement, a corporate partner’s name may be associated directly with the event or program being sponsored and may derive other marketing benefits consistent with City regulations and policies.
2. The Revenue Generation Committee must approve all marketing materials associated with the corporate partnership agreement. The City Marketing Officer will also review all marketing materials including, but not limited to, logos, banners, brochures, cards, signs, posters, newsletters and product labels in advance of printing/placement to ensure all materials comply with City policies.