Building Strong Community Partnerships: Collaborating for Greater Impact

Community partnerships can enhance services and programming that address community needs and foster collective action. These partnerships are supportive and strategic collaborations formed between local organizations, businesses, community groups, and other entities to achieve a common goal that benefits the community as a whole.

Partnering with local alliances can help changemakers broaden the impact of their work, deepen community ties, acquire new ideas for addressing community needs, and expand access to resources. For new ventures, such as founding nonprofits and social enterprises, partnerships can increase visibility, expand programming, and open the door to new funding opportunities. 

Christina Griffin-Jones, Community Organizer, Vice President of Womxn’s Work Consulting, and Volunteer Coach for the Idealist Action Incubator Sessions, shared her experience with forming community partnerships: “Forming community partnerships has been essential to my work; Every person and group I’ve connected with has shaped my approach and deepened my impact. I learned to listen and build vision, and I’ve grown as a community builder thanks to (many) mentors. Collaborating with organizations has shown me what it means to fight alongside the community with deep love, discipline, and solidarity. These partnerships have taught me how to stand on business and center humanity in every campaign, training, and movement I’m part of and build.”

So, how should one go about forming partnerships? Here are a few tips:

1. Identify community stakeholders. Identify who is doing the work that closely aligns with your mission. These can include start-ups and well-established nonprofits, local businesses, neighborhood associations, government agencies, local universities and colleges, and faith-based groups, to name a few. Additionally, seek out community gatekeepers; these are influential individuals with strong community connections who can help align you with more information about the community and assist in expanding your network. 
2. Build relationships. Network with potential partners and maintain ongoing communication with them throughout the partnership project, both before and after its completion. Invite alliances and potential partners to events you host, attend their events, and offer opportunities to volunteer alongside you, in addition to your joint efforts. Take the time to nurture these relationships. Christina shared her advice for relationship building: “Three essentials for strong partnerships: honor each other’s capacity, be invested in each other’s liberation, and commit to doing no harm. Strong partnerships are built in how we show up, not just what we get done.”
3. Strategize. Be intentional about setting mutually-aligned goals. What is the joint collective action you want to work on? What will be the overall goal(s) of the partnership? What goals will you co-create? Also, ensure that you consider how much time and resources both you and your partner(s) can contribute. Christina shared, “Before working with a new partner, I meet one-to-one with them to understand their interest—what they, their organization, or community hope to win—and whether that’s possible with what we’re seeking to create together. We align by getting clear on the intent of our shared work. If our visions align, we move forward grounded in honesty, clarity, and shared purpose.” 
4. Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Once you have solidified a partnership with mutually agreed-upon goals and a collective effort to work together, it will be essential to outline those goals and the specific roles for each party. Draft, review, and sign a Memorandum of Understanding that outlines the defined goals, capacities, roles, responsibilities, and resources that will be shared. Here’s an example of a generic MOU that can be used.
5. Evaluate. During your collaboration, collect data to ensure that desired goals and outcomes are being produced. It’s good to have a check-in with your partner(s) to communicate what is working and what may need to be readjusted to ensure quality services and mutual accountability. 

It’s essential to maintain a strong community presence and be in sync with partners who are fully committed to ensuring that the work you do together leads to lasting and sustainable community changes that mutually align.  

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