Collaboration and Partnerships for Nonprofits

Why would an article about collaboration and partnerships be on a fundraising website?  Because it goes hand in hand with your finances and development strategy!  In the nonprofit sector, it is sometimes easy to get territorial with the work we do.  This is only natural; most people don’t go into the industry for the amazingly high salaries or multitude of benefits – they work for nonprofits because they care about the cause.  When you have someone that has so much heart, is so invested and close to the work, sometimes it is easy to feel a tad bit too much ownership with work of your agency.   But it’s always important to take a step back and evaluate the best strategy for accomplishing your mission. 

I don’t know about you, but I have yet to work for a nonprofit that had such an abundance of resources that they felt completely secure in having all they needed to accomplish their vision.  More likely, you are living day to day trying to secure the money to make it so you can do as much programming as possible, for the lowest dollar amount.  While this has great attributes of its own (the for-profit world could take some lessons on running on a shoestring budget!), it sure makes it difficult to do everything you envision. 

Forming partnerships with organizations that can assist you in achieving your mission is a great way to provide programs and services without necessarily having a big strain on your bottom line.  When I worked at a social service agency supporting low-income families, we knew that our clients could benefit from so many other resources, outside of the realm of what we could provide with our staffing and budget.  But we were able to pull in other agencies to provide services to the clients onsite- such as low-cost veterinary care, utility assistance and tax preparation- all which greatly benefitted our clients but didn’t have an additional cost for us.  Our clients were thrilled about the access to additional services, funders loved that we were collaborating with other organizations, and the community applauded an agency that could more holistically serve those in need. 

Let’s not isolate our agencies and be territorial about those we serve.  Always remember your mission and think of innovative ways to achieve that.  Collaborations and partnerships are a good place to start.