ABUJA, Nov 21 (IPS) – It’s an already established reality that constructing partnerships is without doubt one of the single handiest methods for African non-profits to draw funding and deepen their affect. So, as an addendum to this text by Tafadzwa and I, here’s a information to discovering your match.
Certainly, selecting an organisation to collaborate with may be much like deciding on a life accomplice. It doesn’t require the identical life dedication however a mistaken partnership can considerably harm your popularity with donors, the belief you’ve from the neighborhood(ies) and even the religion your crew members have in you. In some conditions, the results should not so dire. Maybe, it could solely sidetrack you, forcing you to forge into areas you in all probability didn’t intend, and making you lose time or put years of laborious work in danger.
So, in broad strokes, how are you going to discover the best accomplice on your work as an African civil society organisation (CSO) or nonprofit?
- Put your Home in Order: Organisations are sometimes judged on the energy of their company governance. Whereas the scale of an organisation might affect how strong its processes and procedures are, what’s paramount is that regardless of the scale, there’s a system and tradition of accountability and transparency. Essentially the most stable path in the direction of establishing broad neighborhood partnerships that guarantee long-term grassroots assist revolve round legitimacy and construction, as evidenced in your insurance policies, management composition, accountability measures and organisational tradition. This will appear to be an apparent level however African non-profits typically begin informally as a small initiative to deal with an issue in the neighborhood. Over time, that small initiative morphs right into a registered non-governmental organisation, whose management is made up of shut family and friends members. Even when this works to get the organisation operational, it doesn’t work in the long run. On the barest minimal, each nonprofit ought to have a various and practical board of administrators/trustees, well-articulated imaginative and prescient, values and aims, strategic targets and motion plans. These benchmarks aid you streamline what sort of accomplice(s) you want, when you must method them and the way you wish to collaborate with them.
- Be Keen to Collaborate, not Compete: For too lengthy, the funding pool in Africa has pit nonprofits in opposition to each other. Nonetheless, to faucet the advantages of partnerships, organisations should be prepared to name a truce, and work collectively in an open, sincere relationship. But, with a lot mistrust already being the marker of the nonprofit house, how can we transfer ahead? It actually begins with having a distinct mindset. If extra organisations undertake the concept collaboration, and never competitors is the best way ahead then we may have made appreciable progress. However this isn’t an ideal world and there’ll all the time be unscrupulous individuals so the following few factors ought to provide you with some safety.
- Discover your Strategic Match: Whereas sure collaborations could also be short-term, all partnerships needs to be strategic (regardless of timeframe). Because of this there needs to be congruence in values, method to work, complementary (not essentially precise) thematic areas of labor and confirmed report of worth. Earlier than partaking with a potential accomplice, it is very important think about what you can too provide the partnering organisation. What could be useful is to have a predetermined guidelines with some must-haves and some standards that may be versatile. This additionally means creating an inner commonplace for excellence that every one potential companions should abide by. This is the reason level (1) is just too essential. If you’re not clear about who you’re as an organisation or your wants, how will you recognise an organisation that matches your accomplice profile?
- Begin Small and Take it Gradual: You can begin out of your circle, with organisations that align along with your values and whose management you’ll be able to vouch for to a sure diploma. Even at that, don’t be fast to decide to main initiatives or signal a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with out studying the positive print. You may as well begin with initiatives that will not require funding (as a result of this typically has larger stakes) however issues like information/data-sharing, employees exchanges and many others. could also be someplace to start. These low-hanging fruits aid you get a really feel of what sort of organisation you’re coping with. Lastly, it goes with out saying that you just request a ‘get-to-know-you’ assembly the place you share your histories, insurance policies and procedures with one another (sure, very like a primary date) then you’ll be able to go from there. It is crucial that you don’t settle for a partnership beneath duress and if the organisation refuses to honour this request, then it’s doable that they don’t seem to be the best match for you.
- Be Numerous and Inclusive in your Search: Too typically nonprofit organisations wrestle to be a focus for the extra established entities, forgetting that there may be a bunch of different organisations doing spectacular work and who may be dependable companions. It’s advisable to forged a large internet. The truth that an organisation is small (and even smaller than yours) doesn’t negate the worth they might provide. You may as well make an open name for partnerships, highlighting your curiosity space(s), what you convey to the desk and an outline of the type of organisation you need.
Finally, you must keep in mind that the purpose of discovering a accomplice is to attain your strategic targets and make sure the sustainability of your organisation whereas contributing to one other organisation. Approaching partnership-building from this angle strengthens the community of non-profits throughout the Continent, helps us leverage our inner wealth of sources and weans us off our over-dependence on exterior funding.
Angela Umoru-David is a artistic social affect advocate whose expertise cuts throughout journalism, program design and company/improvement communications, and goals to seize a plurality of views that positively affect the African narrative
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