Tips for Effective Nonprofit Partnerships

Strong partnerships are crucial to all successful ventures.

Over the past 15 years, I have participated in hundreds of meetings with the goal to develop new or cultivate existing partnerships between nonprofits (and some for profits). Out of these meetings came new strategies for better serving clients, furthering the missions of all parties, and developing new and exciting strategies for having greater impact. Oftentimes, these were meetings between organizations with complementary missions—offering some of the same services to the same target audiences. Yet, these partnerships were not only developed but became lasting successes.

Here are three proven tips for creating effective partnerships between nonprofits.

Tip One: Be informed. Before reaching out to any prospective partner, do your homework—internally and externally. You should have a clear understanding of what you want/need out of the partnership and how the partnership will affect your operations, programs, and stakeholders.

Tip Two: Be open and flexible. The worst thing to do in meeting with any prospective partner is to be closed-minded and focused solely on the partnership idea you walked in the door with. I have had countless meetings where the partnership idea I walked in the door with bloomed into something greater than I could have imagined possible. When both parties are willing to have an open discussion and to “throw ideas on the wall and see what sticks” the possibilities are endless.

Tip Three: Be human. Partnerships are relationships, and relationships occur between people.

People give to people they like.

People work with people they trust.

People partner with people the like and trust.

 This is a summary of a report I have prepared on this subject. Email me at mnusum@thewordwomanllc.com for a free copy (PDF) of the report.

Michelle Nusum
The Word Woman
www.thewordwomanllc.com

The Word Woman LLC is a full-service consulting firm specializing assisting emerging and established nonprofit organizations as well as federal, state and local government agencies in achieving their missions and goals for public good.

Staying Focused: Mission Driven Work Must Be Driven By the Mission

Let's take a look at how nonprofits can stay focused.

A nonprofit must have a well-crafted, well-understood and supported mission statement that drives everything the organization does. Before any partnership is entered into, before any new product or service is offered, before anything is done, there is a question that must always be asked and answered (with justification) – Is this helping to further our mission?

If this question goes unasked (or unanswered for that matter), an organization can find itself engaged in activities that have nothing to do with its mission.

For example, would it help an organization whose mission it is "to promote physical activity and reduce childhood obesity in urban communities" to apply for funding where the priority is to "increase the number of college graduates in disadvantaged communities"? Sure, a grant proposal could be submitted outlining a strategy to incorporate higher education promotion in the organization's activities, but what would that have to do with physical activity or childhood obesity? Also, how would the organization follow the children and ensure that they not only enrolled in college but also graduated? And how would any of these activities help to further their mission to promote physical activity and reduce childhood obesity? Luckily, an organization in this situation would most likely not have to worry about any of these issues because it is highly unlikely that they would get funded.

In these tough economic times, many nonprofits find themselves desperately seeking to replace funding that has been lost due to budget cuts and drops in donations. I can understand the inclination to go after funding "wherever we can get it". But this strategy-- applying for funds when it is clearly a s-t-r-e-t-c-h to link the organization's mission with the funder's mission and priorities--is a waste of time and resources. Organizations in this situation would fair better by looking for opportunities to partner, to consolidate, and/or to develop new streams of income, such as selling products or services.

Is your organization having to make up lost funding? What strategies have you used to close the gap? Please share your successes and failures. What didn't work for you might work for others?

 PS. Here is a great article, "How to Avoid Nonprofit Mission Creep"

http://nonprofit.about.com/od/nonprofitmanagement/tp/Mission-Creep.htm

Michelle Nusum

The Word Woman