Making partnerships work

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This report is for anyone in the non-profit sector who is planning a new alliance, committed to working collaboratively, or struggling in a partnership that isn’t working. It's also for funders, like Esmée, who want to get better at supporting and working in partnerships.

Partnerships are hard work

As funders, we know from our own experiences how tricky it can be to set up and maintain a partnership with another funder when our governance is separate, even with all our resources. So why are we surprised when it takes longer and is more difficult for the organisations we fund? It is easy for us to say from a funder’s perspective that organisations “should be working together” when their work looks similar. But how many funders can say that what we each do is unique?

Working together is our superpower

The funding system is currently set up to make us all focus on what makes us different and special, instead of what we have in common, or what we need from others. In contrast, the learning in this report shows the inherent flexibility of social organisations. The organisations we fund are brilliant at making new partnerships and adapting to them in a way that corporate or public sector organisations are not. As a sector, collaborating could be our superpower.

We hope this report gives you some ideas, reassurance, or challenge to work better in partnership. It shares the advice of four brilliant partnerships we fund: Drive Forward Foundation, Northern Roots, Greener UK hosted by Green Alliance, and Committee on the Administration of Justice and North West Migrants Forum. The report also shares key resources from Take Note, IVAR, Tamarack Institute, The Change Agency, High Trees and Rising Arts Agency.

We want to hear from you

Please let us know what you think, we're always keen to hear your questions or comments so do send us an email to: communications@esmeefairbairn.org.uk.