Community Partnerships With Non-Profits – A Powerful Way To Promote Change

The importance of a partnership between community leaders and non-profit organizations should never be underestimated. It is a powerful combination that can provide countless opportunities and benefits to both entities. Although it is not always an intuitive relationship, charities, nonprofits, and religious organizations often have an abundance of influence in communities that may go unrecognized by community leaders. This type of partnership is significant because it works, and while the benefits are flowing, the community grows. Here are some steps you can take to promote partnerships in your civic area.

Recognize a Need

Most communities have many unmet needs, so identifying a possible initiative to strive for or resources to fight over may not be difficult. The problem is often finding a need in the community that fits into the mission of the nonprofit, too. For the partnership to be successful, both sides must feel they are benefiting from the actions of the group. This can be essential in the further partnership efforts for the benefit of more community actions.

Prepare a Plan

Although it sounds easy, when you begin to prepare a plan of action from two distinct points of view, it may take some work to hone the exact proposal. Grasping the full extent of the problem and identifying possible issues connected to the issue may take weeks. Let your potential partners know the ways you can imagine addressing the situation, ask for feedback, and then realize the solution may change as more information pertaining to the community comes into view.

Identify Partners

Identifying potential partners may be one of the most difficult tasks. Not only must the company or non-profit have a possible stake in the situation, but the problem must also be something they are actually aware of. If the group you approach is unable to partner with you at the specified time, you can learn how to ask for donations to your cause. Government agencies, coalitions, businesses and other organizations are often happy to donate to worthwhile causes when they are unable to partner.

Craft an Approach

The implementation of any strategy can require many hours of processing, planning, and reevaluating. It is important to involve the community, partners, and any organization involved in the project with appropriate and frequent updates. This allows for timely objections or protests about possible key solutions or resolutions to the problem. Allowing each of those involved to have a voice can prevent possible negative feelings or publicity.

Evaluate Results

Evaluation is a step that starts a few days after the project begins. As the collected data signals the impact the project is having on the community, it may also identify problems that were unnoticed, critical issues that require immediate resolution, or problems in the information presented. As with all projects, there may be questions that are left unresolved.

Making positive changes in your area often requires working with community leaders to foster a partnership. Whether it is where you work, live, or socialize, the collaboration can help further shared goals. By approaching the plan together and combining workforce, ingenuity, and skills, the task can be completed much more quickly, and to the satisfaction of all.

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