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Coalitions & Strategic Alliances for CSOs. Rob Fuller Director of Entrepreneurial Programs Beyster Institute. Coalitions & Strategic Alliances. Why use coalitions or alliances? Factors for creating successful partnerships How to make collaboration work. What is a Coalition?.
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Coalitions & Strategic Alliances for CSOs Rob Fuller Director of Entrepreneurial Programs Beyster Institute
Coalitions & Strategic Alliances • Why use coalitions or alliances? • Factors for creating successful partnerships • How to make collaboration work MEET U.S.
What is a Coalition? A coalition is a group of people who work together to support a common mission or vision. MEET U.S.
What is a Strategic Alliance? A strategic alliance is an agreement to utilize the strengths of two or more organizations to provide some benefit to clients or the community by working together. MEET U.S.
Why use a Coalition or Alliance? • Increases public support and helps build trust • Gain broader acceptance of new idea or change of old idea • Reach out to all segments & groups in the community • Acquire new resources • Accomplish more together than separately MEET U.S.
Assess Your CSO’s Potential • Why are we looking at an alliance now? • What do we want to achieve from the collaboration? • Is a coalition or alliance the best way to achieve our goals? • What resources are we willing to commit? • How much control are we willing to cede? MEET U.S.
Basic Approach to Collaboration • Determine mutual ground rules • Assess strategic potential of the collaboration • Define success criteria • Establish a plan • resources, expectations, relationships • Structure an agreement • Measure performance MEET U.S.
Collaboration Continuum Collaboration Frontier Stage 2 Transactional Stage 3 Integrative Stage 1 Philanthropic James Austin Harvard Business School Initiative on Social Enterprise MEET U.S.
Stage 1: Philanthropic Collaboration • Traditional roles • “benevolent donor” & “grateful recipient” • CSO receives funding, goods, or services • Donor enhances its reputation as a “community supporter” MEET U.S.
Stage 2: Transactional Collaboration • Begin to regard each other as “partners” • Resource exchanges (“transactions”) • Cause-related marketing • Event sponsorships • Licensing • Paid service arrangements • More than traditional charitable contribution MEET U.S.
Stage 3: Integrative Collaboration • Resources mobilized and meshed • New unique services, activities, resources created • “Collaboration Frontier” MEET U.S.
A Written Agreement • Definition of Scope • Activities, geographic, technical • Objectives • Specific Projects, milestones • Roles and Responsibilities • Channels of communication • Sharing or bearing of costs • Sharing revenues • Ownership of Intellectual Property • Joint marketing • Resolving conflicts • Termination MEET U.S.
Keys to Managing Collaboration • Identify all the stakeholders • Clearly communicate goals to stakeholders • Evaluate performance against expectations • Define metrics • Evaluate/adapt metrics as needed • View the alliance portfolio holistically • Allocate adequate management resources MEET U.S.
Success Factors • Environment • Membership • Process & structure • Communication • Purpose • Resources Mattessich & Monsey, 1993 Collaboration: What Makes it Work MEET U.S.
Problems in Coalitions/Alliances • Partner may act opportunistically • Partner may misrepresent competencies brought to the partnership • Partner fails to make committed resources and capabilities available to other partner • Partner may make investments that are specific to the alliance while the other partner does not MEET U.S.
Examples in the U.S. • City Year and Timberline • CARE and Starbucks • The Nature Conservancy and Georgia-Pacific • Bidwell Training Center and Bayer • Jumpstart (Boston) and American Eagle Outfitters James Austin, 2000 The Collaboration Challenge: How Nonprofits and Businesses Succeed through Strategic Alliances Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management MEET U.S.
