Collaboration Among Nonprofits

In the beginning of 2009, when nonprofits around the country were reeling in the midst of financial meltdown, I wrote two things on a sticky note and stuck it to my desk: “collaboration” and “earned income opportunities”. These are two items that every nonprofit can utilize with dramatic results in today’s very unpredictable fiscal climate. I will talk about collaboration today and on the next entry, about earned income opportunities.

Col•lab•o•ra•tion (noun): the action of working with someone to produce or create something.

Collaboration possibilities are limited only by the creativity of their initiators: whether it is two non-competing organizations developing a shared facilitated meeting or five or six service providers creating a one-stop community health and recreation center.

The board chair of one of our clients was recently at a dinner party at a friend’s house, who is chair of another small nonprofit’s board. Our client seeks short-term centralized office space in the midst of a growth period. The president of the other organization’s board said their relatively new home had plenty of space to accommodate us, at least for the time being. A few days ago, we toured the space and discussed the fact that we actually share an administrative employee already!

This collaborative effort will certainly take some creativity–how to divide hours for our shared employee if both of her jobs exist in the same office–how to divide bills and facility usage, etc. But all involved seem motivated by the challenge, and the many opportunities it creates for creative brainstorming, cost sharing, and energy savings.

Here are a few ideas for how your nonprofit might be able to find a collaboration opportunity:

• Is there a big bill your organization pays that might be better shared with someone else? Facility/office space is an obvious one. How about programming or board meeting space? An employee? Or working with another organization to cross market a fundraising event – like a series of trail runs or ride-a-thons?

• How about shared facilitated experiences? For example, two full boards of directors of non-competing nonprofits meeting to share successes and challenges in fundraising or finance efforts.

• Remember that collaboration involves producing something. So is there a strategic goal you are aiming to achieve that could be better reached, even just for the time being, by working with another organization?

• Maybe bring it up at a board or upper level staff meeting. What opportunities do other top players in your organization see for collaborating?

Creative collaboration is a great way to network, to encourage creativity, to cut costs and to increase efficiency - in the end building stronger, more resilient organizations. Good luck and be sure to let us know how it goes!