30 Nov Everyone Gets a Piece of the Pie – Community Partnerships that Matter by Kellie Brungard, GPC

Partnerships can be a powerful tool in communities when they are designed to support everyone involved. Much like making a homemade pie, it takes preparation, time, and trust in the process. Here are some tips and considerations when designing partnerships to make sure everyone has a slice of the pie.

Understand the Need

Like many proposals, understanding the need of the community plays a big role in successful program development. Before gathering partners and diving into planning, consider the gap you are preparing to address. Check for recent community needs assessments (CNA) conducted in the area, review feedback from client surveys, and talk to direct service staff. Consider conducting your own community needs assessment or survey past and present clients if previous data does not exist. Use the information gleaned from these sources to identify gaps your organization is equipped to fill or could expand in partnership. Gathering information from the individuals to be served ensures their voice is heard rather than assuming we know what they need.

Once you understand the needs of the community, evaluate what your organization does well in serving this need and areas that could be improved. Do you provide resources but lack the capacity to make those connections for clients and follow-up to ensure they received the help needed? Maybe your staff is great at serving individuals but community outreach feels…out of reach. Having an awareness of your services and gaps will help program design fill the gaps that actually exist, strengthening services overall.

Start the Conversation

Next, do you know the organizations in the area that provide similar services? Become familiar with resources in your community that can bring benefit to your clients or that can work in tandem with the service you offer. Be aware of tunnel vision – there may be great potential partners in organizations that serve a different demographic. Making connections with organizations in your community is a great foundation for building successful partnerships.

The process of building partnerships is most successful when there is time to discuss, plan, build, and prepare. We all know the stress of forging partnerships when a deadline is looming. By evaluating needs and opportunities that will benefit the community rather than building a case for funding, we create strong, inclusive partnerships. When starting the conversation, take a look around the table. Who isn’t represented? If your table includes all leadership-level representatives that fit within the same demographic, this may lead to assuming you know how to best serve individuals with different backgrounds. The key to making sure everyone gets a slice of the pie is to set a place at the table for everyone.

Start planning. What needs do other organizations have and do these intertwine with yours? How can the group work together to benefit and strengthen services available to the target populations?

Division of Responsibilities

The group has narrowed down the scope and created meaningful ways of working together. However, we all need funding to serve, right? When building a budget with partners, create individual budgets that align with the responsibilities that each organization will have. What are the actual costs of the work you plan to accomplish?

Partnerships are invaluable tools in the community and when given the time and energy to plan and discuss, can be even stronger. On the other hand, partnerships that are fragmented or self-serving can be damaging to an organization’s population or community relationships. No one wants to go to the trouble of making a homemade pie and see it go to waste on someone’s plate. So here is your recipe for success in community partnerships: start the conversation early, bring everyone into the discussion, and make sure resources can be allocated fairly.

This BLOG is aligned with the Grant Professional Certification Institute’s Competencies and Skills

Competency #3: Knowledge of strategies for effective program and project design and development

Skill 3.1: Identify methods of soliciting and incorporating meaningful substantive input and contributions by stakeholders

Skill 3.2: Identify methods of building partnerships and facilitating collaborations among co-applicants

Skill 3.7: Identify existing community resources that aid in developing programs and projects