Steps for Considering and Creating an Alliance

Resource
Forming Alliances: Working Together to Achieve Mutual Goals

Contents
Steps in Forming an Alliance
    Step 1: Clarify the purpose
    Step 2: Identify and recruit partners
    Step 3: Frame the alliance
    Step 4: Formalize the structure and plan
    Step 5: Implement and manage the alliance
Summary

From Becky Andrews, Marketing Manager, Fieldstone Alliance

IN THE PAST FEW WEEKS we've repeatedly heard the phrase "the world as we've known it has ended." Of course that can refer to many things but one thing we do know for sure is that for the next couple of years, many, if not most, nonprofits are going to have more difficulty than ever raising or earning revenue to support their operations. Finding ways to increase impact, extend reach, do more with less, and reduce overhead leads many nonprofits and grantmakers to collaboration as a possible solution.

The term collaboration refers to many different kinds of relationships, from low intensity cooperative or coordinating relationships, to formal collaboratives or joint ventures, to administrative consolidations and even mergers. The chosen structural option has to align with what you are trying to achieve. And all of these options require visionary thinking, careful planning, and cautious decision making. We often advise nonprofits to get some experience through a lower intensity form of collaboration before attempting a complex joint venture or merger.

Is an alliance right for your organization? Who should you recruit and how? This issue of Tools gives you an overview of the steps for considering and creating an alliance at the lower intensity end of the partnership continuum—coordination and collaboration. The information is abbreviated from Chapter 2 of our book, Forming Alliances: Working Together to Achieve Mutual Goals by Linda Hoskins and Emil Angelica.

Steps in Forming an Alliance
The following process involves five steps. Steps 1 and 2 happen without partners, as your organization identifies gaps and considers potential allies. Steps 3 through 5 happen in cooperation with potential or chosen allies. Here's an overview of the process:

Step 1: Clarify the purpose
Determine the needs of your organization and your community. This work often results in a brief concept paper that is used in discussion with potential partners.

In her article, “Understanding Successful Partnerships and Collaborations,”¹ Katherine James suggests that, as you begin to think about forming alliances, you consider these two questions:

1. If we only had ___________, we could ___________.
2. What do we have to offer a partner?

Answers could be “If we only had Spanish-speaking staff, we could offer our clinic’s services in the local Hispanic community,” or “If we only had another basketball court, we could set up a basketball league for the youth in our community.”

For Step 1, gather a group of people who have a good understanding of your organization’s strengths and weaknesses—usually your leadership team—to begin the conversation on the first question. Use the following questions to jumpstart ideas in the conversation

• Are there some desired outcomes that we have been unable to achieve on our own?
• Are there strategies that we would like to implement but need more resources?
• Is system-wide advocacy important for accomplishing our mission?
• Do we want to change the way the system operates? If so, how?
• What are the key values in our organization?
• How much of our resources can we devote to the alliance without jeopardizing other areas of our programming?
• Are there some administrative services that we need but cannot afford?
  

After holding the conversations with your leadership team, solidify your ideas in a brief, written concept paper. The initial concept paper should include

• A brief discussion of the history that led to this strategy or alliance idea.
• The purpose of the proposed alliance: What good is to be accomplished, and for whom?
• Two or three key outcomes: What do you hope will be different in the future because of the alliance?
• A brief outline of the first steps to get the alliance started, including how the outcomes will be achieved, the scale or scope of the effort (described in terms of time frame, numbers of clients affected, number of partners desired, or other parameters).
  

Step 2: Identify and recruit partners
Using the concept paper, identify and meet individually with potential partners to determine who shares your interest in the project outcomes.

Partners will not remain in alliances where their self-interest is not being met, or they feel they are providing an unfair share of the resources or work. Understanding what you have to offer that would interest another organization (and what you are willing to contribute to the alliance) is the foundation for identifying and attracting potential partners.

Consider the following questions to start brainstorming

• Do we have unique services or programs?
  
• Do we have a solid reputation in the community and with funders?
• Do we have special access to different sectors of our community—perhaps because of a special skill such as a bilingual staff or a refugee-run organization?
• Do we have an exceptional infrastructure, such as an accurate record-keeping and reporting system or an extraordinary marketing department?
• Do we have other resources we can share with others (for example, an excellent mailing list or a host of volunteers)?
• Do we have experience working in alliances with others?

Another way to identify potential partners is to brainstorm a list of organizations using the following questions:

• Who are leaders in our field of work?
• With whom have we worked before?
• Who are our competitors?
• With whom should we work for informational reasons or political reasons or both?
• Who has the skills, technical capabilities, or assets that we need and don’t have?
  

Step 3: Frame the alliance
Partners commit to the project and begin to plan the project.

In this step, potential partners meet to decide whether to proceed with some form of alliance. You personally contacted each potential partner and now extend an invitation to attend a meeting with all the potential partners to discuss the concept.

At this meeting, you and your partners need to share self-interests, modify the ideas in the concept paper to craft a unified vision for the alliance, and generally determine how many resources will be necessary to proceed. Do this deliberately since, before this meeting, the initiator of the process is the only one who “owns” the vision in the concept paper. By the end of the meeting, all partners should have broad ownership in the alliance and the project.

Make certain you identify all the necessary partners at this time. Here’s why: After this step the group is starting to form. Establishing a core of partners at the start quickly brings stability to the alliance.

In summary, the outcomes for these meetings should include

• A written agreement on the goals and outcomes of the alliance and the difference the alliance will make in the community
• A list of partners who are committed to the alliance and their possible roles and responsibilities
• A list of other people who have an interest in what the alliance will do, including other potential partners
• A general idea of the resources the alliance will need, including those that committed partners can bring
• A decision about the type of alliance (cooperation, coordination, or collaboration), and its structure
• A draft work plan that outlines next steps
• A revised and expanded concept paper to share with additional potential partners
  

Step 4: Formalize the structure and plan
Partners jointly develop a detailed plan, budget, and structure for the alliance and formalize it in a written agreement.

In this step, you and your partners formalize a written agreement for the alliance. Hammering out the details may take several meetings. There are really two parts to this step.

4A: Revise the concept paper
The concept paper will become the basis for negotiating agreement among the partners. The best way to get that agreement is to systematically revisit and revise each part of the concept paper so that all partners are in agreement. Answer the following questions.

• The mission or purpose: What good will the alliance accomplish, and who will benefit?
• Two to three key outcomes: What do you hope will be different in the future as a result of the alliance?
• Strategies: How will the outcomes be achieved?
• Known resources: What resources will the alliance need? Describe the resources necessary to implement the strategies.
• Partners: Who are the partners that are committed to this project?
• Stakeholders: Who has an interest in the alliance’s project?
• Time frame: When will the project or program start?
• Decision making: How will we make decisions related to the project?
• Communication: How will formal and informal communication among partners happen?
• Showstoppers: What might keep this alliance from happening?
  

4B: Draft a memo of understanding
Agreements that partners make as they complete the concept paper are typically detailed in a written form, usually called a memo of understanding, a letter of agreement, or a charter. This step is crucial for the success of the alliance. The more intense the partnership and the more resources that are put at risk, the more detail is needed in the agreement.

The figure below shows the items typically included in a memo of understanding for three types of alliances. For cooperation, since typically no funds are involved, a brief memo stating mutual expectations may be all that is necessary. In a coordination, since there is a shared vision, work plan, and budget for a one-time event or a time-limited project, a more detailed agreement is needed. Collaboration will require even more specificity on each item, particularly spelling out the length of commitment, accountability, and the amount of shared resources.

Step 5: Implement and manage the alliance
Partners implement the alliance and share leadership and ownership.

Once the agreement is signed, you will need to pay attention to two facets of the alliance. First, you need to implement the project or steps to accomplish the alliance’s goals. Use your work plan and begin to take action. Until this point, alliance discussions typically involved the top leadership of the partnering organizations (or their designees). Now line staff from all the partners will be called on to implement the project and will need to develop relationships of trust and respect. The more complex the alliance, the more important it becomes to tend to these facets. In the case of a coordination or collaboration, a detailed work plan is needed. This work plan specifies who will do what in the next year—in other words, who is accountable for what outcomes of the project. In the situation of shared funds, a budget will also be needed.

Second, you need to manage the alliance—facilitate the meetings of partners and make joint decisions for the alliance. During the first few months of an alliance, all partners must build ownership in the alliance. Good facilitation of meetings and decision-making processes, accurate and complete communication with internal and external stakeholders, and leadership buy-in are critical. In the first meeting, partners must

• Agree on meeting facilitators
• Agree on a decision-making process
• Identify how communication will occur
• Keep an up-to-date work plan
  

Summary
Alliances often lead to solving the organization’s needs and to addressing the needs of the community in ways that bring forth more resources and creative options than could be imagined.

In considering an alliance, you will find that you begin to look broadly at your own role in the community, your networks, and your ability to leverage resources. You will ensure that the vision of your organization remains in tune with the needs of the community or the individuals you serve, because the more partnerships you form, the more you are interconnected with the community.

Where to Learn More

Forming Alliances: Working Together to Achieve Mutual Goals by Linda Hoskins and Emil Angelica

Free resources
Collaboration Factors Inventory
Use this tool to help you assess your collaboration's strengths and weaknesses.

Collaborating with a For-Profit: Some Risks but Huge Potential
Describes different forms that for-profit and nonprofit collaborations can take and offers advice about what to avoid.

Four Keys to Collaboration Success
Four keys that—while not a guarantee to success—are essential to a well-functioning collaboration.

Lower Intensity Alliances (Part 1): When Less is More
Don't waste time on complex partnerships when simpler alliances can be more effective.

Consulting services
Fieldstone Alliance consultants help funders and nonprofits plan and navigate changes. We can help you understand your organization's core capabilities and business model, gain greater understanding of your market and competition, develop criteria to guide strategy decisions, and help you formulate and test strategies. For more information, please contact Sandy Jacobsen at 651.556.4510 or sjacobsen@FieldstoneAlliance.org.

Best regards,

Becky Andrews

July 22, 2009

¹ Katherine James, “Understanding Successful Partnerships and Collaborations,” Parks and Recreation (May 1999): 41.

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