Nonprofit Collaborations

The prevalence of nonprofit collaborations is rapidly increasing. Collaboration with another organization is often required in grant applications. They are also an alternative that organizations turn to in order to maximize resources, share administrative costs, and/or supplement the skills of one another. Nonetheless, in order for collaborations to be successful, there must be a cultural alignment and a strategically orchestrated coordination of roles and responsibilities. 

This is Part I of a two part series

Sustainable Nonprofit Collaborations That Are Based on More Than Just Trust

Successful nonprofit partnerships are contingent on both parties performing optimally and sharing the same expectations regarding performance, outcomes, and quality. Holding these discussions beforehand will prevent organizations from investing countless resources and time into partnerships that cannot be sustained. Holding these discussions amongst partners also helps to mitigate risk and contributes to the development of joint problem-solving strategies. 

Successful and sustainable nonprofit collaborations require that both parties engage in relationship-building and appreciative planning. Establishing systems of communication early on also fosters an environment where employees in both organizations can maintain a positive attitude towards working together.

Pre-Nonprofit Collaboration Implementation:

Taking the time to discuss the following will help each partner to pre-screen potential obstacles, identify solutions, and engage in appreciative planning: 

• Assess the purpose of the collaboration and the organizational compatibility so both organizations can jointly advance a common purpose. This requires evaluating the cultural alignment of both organizations by examining the following:
  • Assessing whether this collaboration advances your mission or organizational priorities;
  • Assessing whether you will provide a benefit to the population you serve;
  • Ensuring everyone is clear about the purpose of the collaboration;
  • Ensuring that the quality of services will improve;
  • Ensuring that there is compatibility across organizational and professional codes of conduct in both organizations;
  • Gauging the potential connectivity between peers and colleagues in both organizations; 
  • Assessing whether the skill sets of staff members in both organizations are complementary across the organizations.
  • Examining differences in policies and practices.
  • Examining whether there is an alignment of expectations regarding programming between both organizations and their employees; and
  • Engaging in an information exchange that includes similarities and differences in programs; existing challenges; important organizational practices; compliance requirements; and definitions and terminology used by each organization.
• Create a strong communication plan between the organizations. This step is critical. The two organizations must determine which modes of communication will be used and assign singular points of contact for different issues beforehand. A regularly scheduled meeting time to monitor the progress of the collaboration should also be established to monitor progress and to problem solve. The communication methods should also clearly identify and define how decisions are made and who needs to be involved across the organizational hierarchies with respect to different types of decision-making. This also includes defining who should be consulted, communicated with, and informed on various decisions. How decisions on day-to-day matters are made on smaller issues in between prescheduled coordination meetings versus large-scale issues must also be determined. 
• Define and delineate the roles and responsibilities of both parties. Each party must understand what they are responsible for. Thus, the partners must then determine who is responsible for which function during the collaboration. How is risk being distributed? Who is responsible for managing each component and job function involved? What are the tenants of confidentiality and how it is going to be maintained?  If funding is shared, who is the primary contact with the funder? Who must report to whom regarding the work that is being undertaken? How will professional development be managed – collaboratively or individually? Also, determining which work functions will require collective strategies vs individual organizational strategies will be critical.
• Assess potential areas of risk that both organizations are going to be exposed to and strategize to develop and document solutions in the Memorandum of Understanding. This includes assessing health and safety concerns. Also, explore with your insurance companies how risk has to be integrated into an MOU or into your insurance coverage.
• Establish clarity on the financial burden that each organization is assuming, actual costs, and how compensation will be determined. This includes having conversations on who is responsible for what costs early on. Also, assessing the financial and administrative impact of the collaboration on each organization is critical to determine true costs. Finally, if one organization is going to be compensated for its work, decide on the rate and process for reimbursement early on.
• Assess the functionality of the collaborations to ensure they are purposeful and mutually beneficial. This includes:
  • Reducing redundancies,
  • Reducing the number of meetings,
  • Reducing inefficiencies,
  • Reducing expenses and costs,
  • Identifying complementary skills sets, and
  • Focusing on improved quality. 
• Establish accountability mechanisms. This includes but is not limited to what content is going into the reporting. Who must report to whom regarding the work that is being undertaken? How compliance will be implemented? Planning for how to hold employees accountable from different organizations if they do not follow through with their work?  If money is involved, what happens if one party does not fulfill its commitments? 
• Determine how outcomes will be measured. This includes identifying the evaluation tools, processes, and software that will be used.

Next time, we will cover “Collaboration Implementation“.

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