| abstract
| - Cross-Sectoral Partnerships: People and organizations from some combination of public business, NGOs and civil society groups who engage in voluntary, mutually beneficial, innovative relationships to address common societal aims by combining their resources and competencies. - The Copenhagen Center, Partnership Alchemy Some people call these cross-sectoral partnerships, some call these business partnerships, some call them social partnerships. But the idea is Nonprofits are pretty comfortable collaborating with other Nonprofits and pretty comfortable collaborating with government.
* the world has grown flatter with dramatic technological advances yet looming social & environment issues have not fully benefited from these efforts … requiring society to marshal knowledge, skills,resources of all its sectors - Thomas Friedman, The World is Flat
* issues have become too complex & interdependent; financial/managerial resources required too scare for any single sector to effectively respond to current challenges. New forms of partnerships are needed to address societal problems where traditional, single sector approaches are proving inadequate - Simon Zadek Partnership Alchemy Why do we need these partnerships? Technology and communications have advanced, but not all our advances have resulted in social and environmental advances as well. There are still three billion people who live on less than $2 a day. The role of business has changed; we think of Warren Buffet giving Bill Gates billions of dollars. The world has a lot of problems that are not so simple to solve. Example: HIV started as a medical problem but has had a greater effect. Social issues - can't get into schools in developing countries, no teachers will teach them. If the medical people alone dealt with this, it wouldn't solve the problem. And that's what's happening with many of the problems today. It is highly unlikely that you will agree with everything a business does, so the question is: is there an area where you can find common ground so you can feel comfortable with that partnership? Businesses gain: People want to feel good about where they work. Through volunteering and partnerships, more people want to work for them. It's not just about the money ... if you just go in and only ask for the money, that's the best thing you can get. Go in and say "we have this problem with child hunger, this is how we're trying to solve it, how can you help us solve it?" Every single business person has said that they want to be engaged, they don't want to just write a check.
* For Corporations
* Economies of scale
* Image/creditability - a social license to operate
* Recruitment/retention of high-performing staff - people want to feel good about where they work. If you're a good company and are perceived that way, people want to work for you.
* Skills development
* Product innovation
* For NGOs
* Access to staff/skills
* Financial resources
* Access to Networks
* Technical expertise/technologies.
* Enhanced visibility
* Business
* Self-Interested
* Part of the Problem
* Profit Motivated
* Dishonest
* Check Writers
* NGOs
* Inefficient
* Not Analytic/Strategic
* Foster Dependency
* Highly Political Partnerships are hard, what makes corporate partnerships even harder is that we have really different world views. How long does it take to mobilize a community? It's not something you can do in a quarter. Our timeline is very different than theirs. It's not that one is right and one is wrong, we just need to understand these differences.
* World Views
* Timing (quarterly earnings vs behavior change) - very different timelines & cultures
* Missions (profit, non-profit)
* Language (e.g. technical jargon) - be very clear about what you mean
* Status Different (e.g, size, resources, influence) - most non-profits don't know what their assets are, may not know the value of in-kind contributions (e.g. office space)
* Approaches and Results
* Decision-Making (e.g., quick vs consensus building)
* Measures of Success
* Resource Exchange/Philanthropic - Traditional partnerships limited by "gratefulness and charity syndrome". Expectations/involvement are low and narrowly defined on both sides.
* Transactional/Fee for Service - Engagement limited in focus with specific results expected by the paying party, e.g. NGOs hire businesses to do their accounting; businesses hire NGOs to manage their fellowship program.
* Joint Programming - Engagement is more 2-way. Activities are more closely aligned with business objectives. Strategic fit becomes more important (e.g., cause-related marketing, licensing agreements).
* Integrative - The relationship evolves into a highly integrated joint venture that is central to both organizations strategies.
* Question 1: Why Collaborate? How does it fit in with the other stuff you do?
* Question 2: Type of Collaboration Desired? What type of collaboration do you want?
* Question 3: Who to Partner with? Who within corporation do I need to go to with this? If you want to do cause-related, don't go to the corporate foundation because cause-related marketing is done by marketing department.
* Question 4: Type of Partnership? Once you figure out what type of relationship you want, it makes it easier to figure out where to go within the corporation to start that process.
* Question 5: Relationship Mechanisms?
* Question 6: Required Level of Effort?
* Question 7: Desired Outcome of Partnership? Successful Partnerships
* Are built, they do not just happen.
* Are a valuable outcome in their own right.
* Have clearly defined outcomes/results.
* Have well-articulated partnership strategy including indicators to monitor progress of the partnership
* Have organization structures, communication channels and operational systems to support the partnership.
* Cross-Sectoral partnerships will increase in importance in the coming years.
* NGOs and Business will need to learn how to speak the same language and find common ground for partnerships to succeed.
* Mechanisms to efficiently leverage the various strengths among the various partners will need to be developed.
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