As a leader in multi-stakeholder engagement, Michelle Cangelosi understands the value of forming partnerships to expand the reach of organizations and governmental entities. She also knows that creating sustainable and lasting relationships is no small feat, and it requires significant planning and investment. If you are curious about forming philanthropic partnerships to scale your nonprofit or organizational efforts, there’s a basic path you can follow.
Michelle Cangelosi Talks About Strategy, Partnerships, and Growth
As an expert, Michelle Lynn Cangelosi knows the importance of developing collaborative partnership agreements. Customization is imperative to ensure each party is building upon their strengths and finding solutions for their shortcomings. When negotiating and structuring the agreement each organization should clearly understand their desired outcomes and set realistic expectations for mitigating challenges.
In forming partnerships, you must consider strategy and opportunities for growth. Most organizations will face the following considerations as they develop partnership agreements.
1. Partnership Structure
A nonprofit or not-for-profit entity must decide on the structure of the agreement. There are a variety of options. Each presents benefits and challenges. A couple of common types of philanthropic arrangements are mentioned below.
Lead – Some nonprofits perform the lead role and take on more of the risks. They may consult smaller organizations for highly nuanced work or projects in a specific geography. Overall, the Lead is responsible for the outputs and results as well as budgets and reporting.
Parallel or Co-Financing – Parallel funding arrangements are where two or more entities provide resources to the same project or program. They often do not comingle funding, rather, they work alongside one another to reach a larger area or more beneficiaries.
Regardless of the partnership structure, roles, responsibilities, funding schedules, budgets, reporting, and much more need to be discussed and negotiated prior to commencement of work.
2. Partnership Selection
While Michelle Cangelosi believes choosing the correct partnership structure is important, she notes that underestimating partner selection can be detrimental to success. As a leader of a nonprofit, you must ensure that potential partners mesh with your organization’s mission and core values. Choosing the wrong partner risks alienating your donor pool, not achieving the programmatic outcomes set, damaging your reputation, and forfeiting future programs together.
It often takes several years to engage the right partners in the best opportunities but with that can come great success.
3. Reproduction and Scale
Ultimately, partnerships and their structure should focus on reaching scale efficiently and effectively. With what oftentimes feels like limitless opportunities to equip communities in reaching their best outcomes, finding partnerships that go the distance helps improve results and provides future opportunities to collaborate and reiterate.
Each organization needs to look at their strategy and goals and find the best suited partners to engage with for long-term success. This may look different for each unique opportunity but be certain to weigh the risks and rewards.
Experts Agree Philanthropy Improves Charitable Outreach
Philanthropic partnerships improve charitable capacity, allowing organizations to reach intended beneficiaries quicker and with more thoughtful programmatic design. Michelle Cangelosi notes that all organizations should take the time to assess partnership structures, fully vet potential partners, and evaluate expected roles and responsibilities to avert negative consequences and ensure highly productive outcomes occur – together.