Collaboration can be a Good Thing

Working with other nonprofits—even those you might normally compete with for funding and contacts—can be, especially during tough economic times, a very good strategy, as this article from Venture Philanthropy News notes.

An excerpt.

“It seems that almost everywhere you go these days, nonprofit and foundation leaders alike are talking about ways to foster and increase collaboration. In these difficult times, when resources seem to be vanishing while the demand for services continues to increase, it makes sense that organizations consider working together to make available resources go further and perhaps achieve greater results.

“In principle, everyone wants to collaborate, but the reality of making it happen is extremely tough. Collaboration can be a loaded word. Today, when funders talk about “collaborating,” nonprofits sometimes hear the term as code for “merger.” The truth is, the nonprofit sector has been talking about collaboration for a long, long time, and for many, the word has become hollow because so often, the “collaborations” are forced, inefficient, for show only, or fail to result in any meaningful action or results.

“The reality of the current funding system for nonprofits is that these organizations find themselves competing against the very organizations with whom they might collaborate. To consider teaming up with a competitor requires a whole new way of thinking and behaving. It requires developing trust, which takes time, and additional organizational capacity, and time and capacity are as scarce to nonprofit leaders as capital. It also means breaking down the silos and “turf” that a competitive funding environment creates. Nonprofit leaders rarely have the luxury to step back and think through the “sweet spots” of potential collaboration – areas where time and effort put into coordinating with others in a strategic way could result in concrete “returns” for the organization and the population served.

“Yet research in the last few years shows that collaborating, and more specifically, partnering with more than one organization to create a network for change, can allow nonprofits to have much greater impact than they could ever have on their own….”