From teenagers protesting against globalisation to advertising aimed at toddlers, coverage of companies' involvement with young people has been dominated by images of controversy and conflict.

And yet behind the headlines, increasing numbers of companies are contributing to youth development. Many are choosing to work in partnership with non-profit organisations, on projects which benefit young people.

William Reese, chief operating officer of the International Youth Foundation, which works with a range of corporate partners, says that, traditionally, companies which wanted to support young people made financial contributions.

However, companies are increasingly recognising that while this "old fashioned philanthropy" was well-intentioned, it often led to money being unevenly distributed, or not concentrated in the areas of most need, and it was not necessarily sustainable.

Today, Mr Reese adds, many companies are looking for strategic partnerships with governments, local communities or non-governmental organisations which are more enduring. "When a company creates a more dynamic partnership, it gets more leverage, more visibility and more impact," he says.

According to Lesley Lawrie, head of corporate development at Fairbridge: "There is more intelligence around about charities. People want to know more about what their money is doing, who it is affecting. They want to get their staff involved." Fairbridge, which works with young people in 13 of the most disadvantaged urban areas in the UK, enters into partnerships where possible.

This approach creates a more secure and sustainable relationship. The voluntary organisation gets to know the corporate sponsor and can draw on that company for both ideas and more practical support.

Robert Cope, senior campaigns manager at the Prince's Trust, says: "Both sides win out of it [a partnership]. I think that is going to be, we hope, the model for the future."

He says partnerships are long-term in nature and tend to be more strategic. While there may not be the quick wins associated with sponsorship, the voluntary organisation benefits from a long-term approach, with both organisations working towards common objectives.

The Prince's Trust has an £11m partnership with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), thought to be the biggest corporate/charity partnership of its kind. It also has a partnership with the English soccer FA Premiership, the Professional Football Association and the Football Foundation, and is piloting several projects with Marks and Spencer.

Of the RBS partnership, £7m represents a loan to support long-term funding for 18 to 30-year-olds who find it impossible to raise the capital to start their own businesses. The remaining £3.7m is earmarked for the Trust to develop the way it works in order to help more of the young people which have traditionally been harder to reach.

The partnership with RBS covers three other areas: the involvement of the bank's staff with the Trust, for example acting as mentors for the Trust's business programme; the bank sponsors the Trust's business awards, and helps businesses supported by the Trust; and the bank is working with the Trust to achieve its long-term strategic goals of helping harder to reach and disadvantaged young people, and working with other organisations in the community.

Kevin Steele, chief executive of Enterprise Insight, a coalition of the government, business and the voluntary sector, which will launch this spring with the aim of promoting enterprise to young people, says there is a body of opinion that companies' involvement with voluntary organisations should focus on enterprise as this is their "unique contribution".

Investing in projects in the countries in which companies operate is another way for the corporate sector to contribute to youth development.

Steve Rochlin, director of research and policy development at the Centre for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College, Massachusetts, says this approach has much potential.

However, as in other areas of corporate involvement in youth development it is most effective in partnership with another organisation, whether this be a government, a non-governmental organisation or a local community.

"In most cases, to be effective, particularly in very challenging operating environments, for example low income regions, partnerships are essential because the partners bring the capabilities and knowledge that business lacks," he says.

In some cases, adds Mr Rochlin, a company's involvement in youth development may be vital to its business, reducing the risks to its operations, for example in the textile industry, lessening the prospect that a company uses child labour in its supply chain.

Involvement with youth development gives companies an insight into their future employees, customers and, indeed, investors.