Stop, Collaborate and Listen (But Not Necessarily in that Order)

Ah, the wisdom of early 90’s rapper Vanilla Ice. His lyrics were likely not referring to the exciting world of nonprofits, but we can certainly connect them to a growing trend in this sector: collaborations and strategic alliances. As the Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management points out, nonprofit partnerships began to grow in the 1980s, when social service agencies began facing increased competition from the for-profit sector. By forming alliances and coalitions, they were able to pool their resources in order to better respond to the needs of their communities. Collaboration between organizations has only become more common, and now frequently stretches across the private, nonprofit, and governmental sectors.

Of course, such collaborations are not without their challenges. As the Jossey-Bass Handbook states, they can be incredibly costly in terms of time and energy spent, as well as funds and other resources.  “Turf issues” can easily rise as roles shift, and the organizational culture of the agencies involved may not mesh easily.  Furthermore, the mission, vision, and values of each organization may be incompatible with one another. As a “Best Practices Summary” from the United Way points out, successful collaborations are built on a shared vision of the collaboration, trust between all parties, shared decision-making among everyone involved, shared resources, and a strong strategic plan.

In class, we evaluated three case studies that explored the opportunities and challenges of collaboration between sectors. Read on for key insights from these cases.

The Massachusetts Department of Social Services (MDSS) and La Alianza Hispana. This case explored collaboration between the nonprofit and government sectors. Facing criticism for cultural incompetency, MDSS asked La Alianza (a community organization) to take over managing cases for their Hispanic/Latino clients. As discussed earlier on this blog, it is becoming more and more common for the government to contract out social services to outside agencies. A collaboration between these two groups could, on the one hand, provide opportunities for improved handling of social services cases in the Hispanic community. On the other hand, the challenges involved were numerous. Staff at La Alizana were not trained social workers. There was a lack of trust, a lack of clarity, and a lack of shared decision-making between the organizations. Collaboration would be tough.

The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) and First Things First (FTF). In this case, two nonprofits formed a coalition in an attempt to pass a tax levy. Despite being very different organizations, they believed that they would have a better chance of success if they pooled their resources. SAM had more monetary resources while FTF had a lot of human capitol. The challenges in this case included unclear roles and expectations as well as a lack of trust. 

Timberland and City Year. This case involved the collaboration between a nonprofit organization and a for-profit company. As discussed in earlier blog posts, for-profit companies can benefit by working with nonprofits because it improves their image. Timberland donated a lot of money to City Year and worked with them on shoe designs. One of the biggest challenges of this case was a lack of a long-term strategic plan; they were unsure how to continue their collaboration in the face of financial stress and staffing changes.

Sources:
     United Way of Dane County. "Topics for Discussion When Considering Merger." n.d.
     United Way Worldwide. "Best Practices Summary: Collaboration, Coalition-Building and Merger." 2008.
     Varley, Pamela. “Partners in Child Protection Services: The Department of Social Services and La Alianza Hispana.” Boston. Harvard Kennedy School, 1996.
     Electronic Hallway. “Funding Seattle's Art Museum and Low-Income Housing: The Politics of Interest Groups and Tax Levies.” Seattle. Public Service Curriculum Exchange, 1996. 

     Yankey, John A. and Carol K. Willen. "Collaboration and Strategic Alliances." The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management. Ed. David O. Renz. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010. 375-401. Print.

Collaboration: More Than Just a Buzzword

Collaboration is one of those buzzwords you hear in every business meeting. People always want to collaborate, or leverage synergies, or create pathways to implement things, or yadda yadda yadda. It all sounds good from the outside, but it’s not that simple. When you’re talking about collaborating, it’s important to dive a little bit deeper into what goes into the process. If you’re thinking of partnering with another organization, whether in the same sector or a different one, here are a few things to keep in mind.

1.    Why are you looking to collaborate?

First and foremost, take a step back and clearly list out what gaps you find yourselves encountering as you try to fulfill your mission (United Way Worldwide, 2). If there’s no clear gap you can see, think a bit more about why you’re looking to collaborate. There are definitely other reasons to do so, but it might be time to really weigh the costs with the benefits. As the United Way points out, you can’t expect cost savings from a merger, so the benefits have to be worth it (United Way of Dane County, 1). For example, a government agency like the Massachusetts Department of Social Services may be looking to partner with (or contract out to) a nonprofit for specific services in order to lighten their load, but it may not always be in the best interest of the nonprofit in terms of their mission, workload, or finances (Varley).

Especially when the organizations are not in the same sector, it's crucial to make sure that you know why you're making this move. Each sector has its strengths and benefits to bring to the table -- a government agency may be more financial stable or have resources a nonprofit can't access; a nonprofit may have connections in the community that an agency couldn't even imagine creating -- but if what you're organization is missing isn't filled by these complementary benefits, maybe a collaboration isn't the right way to go.

2.     Who is going to make all the decisions?

When your organizations merge, there are tons of nuts and bolts you will need to consider -- from sharing and analyzing the finances and legal ramifications of a partnership to reorganizing and rebranding. It’s crucial to think strategically about who needs to be in the room from both sides of the partnership to make these decisions. Start with a small committee to manage the merger, and make sure they've got their rules established before anything else starts -- confidentiality agreements, basic ground rules, necessary subcommittees, milestones and timelines (United Way Worldwide, 5). It may be necessary to bring in an outsider to function as a neutral force to manage this team, especially when both parties have some conflicting views or are unlikely partners. When attempting to bridge the gap between supporters of a new art museum and advocates for a low-income housing project in the same area of downtown Seattle, for example, the First Things First coalition found this strategy particularly effective to ensure that everyone felt comfortable as the campaign moved forward (Electronic Hallway). 

If you're merging between sectors, this can get more complicated. Government agencies may have restrictions because of legislation or funding that nonprofits don't have to worry about. A private company might have a CEO making decisions without having to worry about multiple levels of red tape, which can speed up a process and open the partnership up for a freer exchange of ideas and perhaps funding, while a nonprofit may have to run all changes through a board for approval or make sure donors are on board with the new plans, which could quash some ideas. Keep in mind the challenges and opportunities that your potential collaboration partners might have, especially given their internal structures and obligations, when building this partnership.

3. So you've gotten the ball rolling. Now what?

Once you've got things moving (hopefully smoothly), you’re not off the hook yet.

First, make sure you've written everything down! It’s too easy to get caught up in the excitement of a new partnership only to realize that you didn't really agree on everything you thought you did. A written merger or partnership document is essential to preventing uncomfortable or even downright disastrous disagreements.

Second, get ready to evaluate! Your collaboration committee should have created a set of goals, milestones, and timelines to follow. After a set period, say 12-18 months, take a step back and see how you’re doing with respect to each of those. If things are going well, it may be time to expand in terms of resources or geography. If you haven’t hit those milestones, it’s time to decide whether to adjust and move forward or disband (Yankey and Willen, 387).

Ready to go? 

So much goes into a collaboration that it’s no wonder a clear definition is so hard to come by. Despite this difficulty, a partnership can be worth its weight in gold. But before you jump into something new, make sure you've done your due diligence.

Sources:

Electronic Hallway. Funding Seattle's Art Museum and Low-Income Housing: The Politics of Interest Groups and Tax Levies. Case Study. Seattle. Public Service Curriculum Exchange, 1996.

United Way of Dane County. "Topics for Discussion When Considering Merger." n.d.

United Way Worldwide. "Best Practices Summary: Collaboration, Coalition-Building and Merger". 2008.

Varley, Pamela. Partners in Child Protection Services: The Department of Social Services and La Alianza Hispana (A). Case Study. Boston. Harvard Kennedy School, 1996.

Yankey, John A. and Carol K. Willen. "Collaboration an Strategic Alliances." The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management. Ed. David O. Renz. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010. 375-401. Print.

Collaboration: A Balancing Act Between the Sectors?

Earlier this year I have blogged about how different values shape the three sectors: the public, for profit and nonprofit sector. I argue that there are fundamental differences in core values. While I still believe this to be true, collaboration between the sectors can serve as a fruitful way of uniting forces in order to achieve a common goal. It might even serve the purpose of complementing the different values found in each sector, and as such partnering up can be a way of compensating for weaknesses.

Collaboration offers opportunities for reducing costs, building synergies and crafting more holistic solutions by merging diverse approaches (Yankey & Willen, 2010; United Way Worldwide, 2008). Despite the long list of benefits a collaborative strategy can entail, there are numerous pitfalls to be navigated as well. Broadly collaboration has been called “the new strategic planning”, and it is without a doubt key to plan strategically if the benefits are to exceed the costs (Yankey & Willen, 2010). The following three cases will help to demonstrate some pros and cons of collaboration.

La Alianza Hispana & Massachusetts Department of Social Services

The proposal for collaboration between La Alianza and DSS is a great example of how organizations in different sectors can potentially work together to complement each other.

La Alianza could provide DSS with specialized knowledge and a community outreach most government agencies can’t obtain by themselves. On the other hand partnering up with DSS would allow La Alianza to potentially have a more thorough impact in their clientele’s lives by giving them legal capacity and thus achieving a broader mission. The public sector is often characterized by an underlying rigidness, which collaboration with a nonprofit could serve to loosen up. On the other hand the nonprofit could gain access to a broader range of tools.

In this case the risks include mission drift, since their missions may not be adequately aligned, and uncertainty regarding funding. For La Alianza there is also the risk of loosing the trust they have earned in the community.

Timberland and City Gear

Among the recent trends affecting the private sector is a push for a more socially responsible production. Since profit is the main purpose the most liable and legitimate way of realizing this may be by increasing the collaboration with nonprofits. On the other hand many nonprofits currently face issues of funding. Neoliberal policies have resulted in program cuts and the recession in 2008 has further increased the economic pressure on the sector (Hall, 2010; Yankey & Willen, 2010).

The partnership between Timberland and City Gear was for a period of time exemplary of the intersection of profit and altruistic purposes served in the nonprofit sector, benefitting both organizations. However it turned out to be very fragile in times of distress, especially due to a lack of planning. Also this case questions whether collaboration serves to create mutual understanding in sectors that operate with divergent goals and values.

Seattle Art Museum and First Things First

The final case is an example of two nonprofits forming a coalition in order to achieve public support for a referendum that would ensure a tax levy – The Seattle Art Museum and First Things First. Trust was the main issue here along with flaws in the role distribution. For most nonprofits their mission is at the heart of the organization, as opposed to much of the public sector, where bureaucracy and regulations creates the framework for a lot of operations, and the private sector, where profit is the main driver. This may complicate matters for nonprofits working collaboratively, since it often entails giving up some degree of autonomy or compromising, which could create opposition when working with individuals who are highly committed to the cause (Yankey & Willen, 2010). 

It is less clear-cut what each party brings to the table in this case compared to collaborative efforts across sectors, which increases the need for a thorough side-by-side analysis and strategic planning, when two nonprofits are uniting forces.

References:

Elias, Jean (1996).  "Timberland and Community Involvement."  Harvard Business School
"Funding Seattle's New Art Museum and Low-Income Housing: The Politics of Interest Groups and Tax Levies (A)" (1996).  Cascade Center for Public Service, Public Service Curriculum Exchange 

Hall, Peter Dobkin (2010). Historical Perspectives on Nonprofit Organizations in the United States. In: Renz, David O, ed. 2010. The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management. Jossey-Bass. San Francisco, CA.
United Way Worldwide (2008).  "Best Practices Summary: Collaboration, Coalition-Building and Merger."
Varley, Pamela (1996).  "Partners in Child Protective Services: The Department of Social Services and La Alianza Hispana."  John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Yankey, J.A. & Willen, C.K. 2010. Collaboration and Strategic Alliances. In: The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management. Renz, David O, ed. 375-400. Jossey-Bass. San Francisco, CA. 

The Sky's the Limit!: Collaboration and Your Organization

Nonprofit collaborations have proliferated in recent years, both in number and array of collaboration styles. Nonprofits can partner intersectorally; government, private, other nonprofits, the sky’s the limit! These collaborations can also take a huge variety of forms including co-sponsorship, federation, coalition, consortium, network, joint venture, parent-subsidiary, merger and consolidation (Yankey, Jacobus, and Koney 2001). This diversity makes it hard to prescribe best practices for collaborations, but there are some key threads that we can pull out from the experiences of various nonprofits who have undergone collaborative processes.

Do what you do

Keep your mission. Play to your strengths. Incompatible missions are a primary challenge in collaboration (Yankey and Willen 2010). Organizations have to know where they stand and what goals they hope to achieve through this partnership. A side-by-side analysis early in the exploratory process of a collaboration can often help to hash out these details (Yankey and Willen 2010). This doesn’t mean that organizations with very different missions can’t collaborate; in fact it’s sometimes successful for very different organizations to band together if they have a goal in common. An example of this occurred in Seattle in a collaborative ballot initiative between an arts museum and a low-income housing project which secured funding for facilities expansion for both groups (Fortier 1996). The shared goal of winning the vote was in line with both of their very different missions, so it worked.

Balance internal and external environments  

Many collaborations arise out of a desire to strategically address external pressures like increasing funding or service provision. A favorable political and social environment for the merger is important for success (Sharma and Missey 1998). However success also depends upon keeping staff informed and securing their buy-in. Internal organizational culture differences can be a challenge in creating a successful partnership (Yankey and Willen 2010). This was a key consideration in a case where a Hispanic community center considered taking on child abuse case management from the state protective services in Boston.  Of primary concern was how this work would negatively affect their reputation in the community and thus their ability to carry out their mission. Significant doubts among board members about the benefits of the partnership also raised red flags (Varley 1996). While this analysis doesn’t bode well for the collaboration, it is a good demonstration of how an organization should consider the full impacts of partnership beyond financial gain.

Plan, plan, PLAN

Going into a collaboration, organizations should know exactly what they hope to get out of the partnership, how they intend to go about doing it, and how these plans support the missions of the organizations and will strategically advance the position of both in their communities (Yankey, Jacobus and Koney 2001). Developing a sound process for collaboration with clear roles and policy guidelines can go a long way towards to smoothing what may otherwise be a difficult transition (Yankey and Willen 2010, Sharma and Missey 1998). The negative consequences of entering into a partnership without taking time to plan the intention and implementation the union are demonstrated in the story of collaboration between the shoe manufacturer Timberland and the community service program City Year. This partnership began well and expanded quickly, but without a plan to guide the growth and intention of the collaboration, tensions between and within the two organizations eventually ended the partnership (Elias 1996).

Because there are so many possible combinations of sectors and types of collaborations, there is no cookie cutter process for pursuing a strategic alliance. But keeping these three things in mind will help organizations choose valuable alliances and succeed in their implementation.  

References

Elias, Jaan. 1996. “Timberland and Community Involvement.” Supervisor, James Austin. Harvard Business School Publishing. Boston, MA.

Fortier, Suzanne. 1996. “Funding Seattle’s Art Museum and Low-Income Housing: The Politics of Interest Groups and Tax Levies (A).” Supervisor, Jon Brock. Cascade Center for Public Service: Public Service Curriculum Exchange.

Sharma, Janet and Amanda Missey. 1998. “How I learned to Stop Griping . . . And Love Collaboration.” From a presentation at the National Community Service Conference. June 30, 1998. New Orleans, LA.

Varley, Pamela. 1996. “Partners in Child Protection Services: The Department of Social Services and La Alianza Hispana (A).” Abridged. Kennedy School of Government. Boston, MA.

Yankey, John A., Barbara Wester Jacobus, and Kelly McNally Koney. 2001. Merging Nonprofit Organizations: The Art and Science of the Deal. Mandel center for Nonprofit Organizations: Cleveland, OH.

Yankey, John A. and Carol K. Willen. 2010. “Collaboration and Strategic Alliances.” in The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management. Renz, David O, ed. 375-400. Jossey-Bass. San Francisco, CA.