How-To: "Working All Fronts"
Week before last I wrote about a new study in the fall issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review urging more nonprofits to follow the lead of top performers by working to leverage partnerships without rather than building as much capacity as possible within. This is easier said than done, of course. Most of us have had the difficult experience of working within a coalition of like-minded organizations; it turns out that sharp elbows and bruising disagreements are not unusual even among nonprofits with much in common. So how does an organization bring in partners from other sectors with very different goals and mindset?
There's a section in every SSIR issue titled "what works." This fall, SSIR profiles Sustainable Conservation (subscription required), a San Francisco-based nonprofit environmental group that "partners with business, nonprofit, and government leaders to promote environmentally sound, yet cost-effective business practices."
I appreciated this article as an independent case study to examine the idea that nonprofits ought to invest heavily in creative partnerships -- not just as a publicity-grabbing example of "strange bedfellows," but as a core operating principle. The model is doubtless more amenable to certain types of advocacy and certain issues (business/nonprofit cooperation is all the rage these days on environmental initiatives; it may be a hard sell for advocates against nuclear proliferation). But Sustainable Conservation was formed in 1992 with an eye toward rethinking what was then a reactive, insular world of environmental advocacy, and its open approach has met with great success.
Author Catherine Potter breaks SusCon's work into three widely-applicable lessons, starting with "Find Facts First."
Before forming a new coalition, SusCon does a lot of research. At the beginning of the auto recycling project, for example, the organization spent three months visiting automobile dismantlers to learn their business. “The first time I heard of them, I was very cautious,” admits Martha Cowell, executive director of SCADA. “This is an industry that is historically frowned upon by environmental groups. But we spent a lot of time with them. They were very willing to recognize that the industry had information that they didn’t.” SusCon’s attempts to understand the business helped build trust with SCADA and other industry partners.During its fact finding, SusCon also looks for resources. While considering the dairy project, for instance, SusCon discovered that the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation had funds appropriate for the initiative. “Sustainable Conservation has been instrumental in getting grant money,” says Giacomazzi. The organization’s reputation as a rainmaker makes potential partners more willing to work with it.
Finally, SusCon improves its chances for success by identifying issues and industries that are on the cusp of regulation or litigation. “Collaboration works particularly well when a real threat to industry exists,” explains Boren. Auto dismantlers were starting to face litigation, and SCADA “had already started looking into the problem,” says Sarah Connick, associate director of Sustainable Conservation. But SusCon felt that “together, we could do much more,” says Connick. And so SusCon pursued the partnership.
Other lessons include "Build a Distinctive Brand" and "Adjust to Each Partnership." I suspect every organization will encounter somewhat different obstacles to creating productive partnerships. SusCon, formed with such a model in mind, avoided the transition pains that a more established nonprofit would no doubt experience in adopting an outward-looking approach. But it's done the legwork to make unusual partnerships work over the long term. Others should watch carefully; the learning curve may flatten as more organizations internalize those lessons.