Engaging the right community partners to join your partnership is crucial to facilitating a process that’s mutually beneficial.
As you plan your introductory partnership meeting, you need to figure out who to invite, and why.
You see the value in working with these organizations, and you want them there to advance your mission.
The WHY behind your ask is important as these potential partners will ask:
What’s in it for me?
If they can’t see their value add to this partnership, they won’t join you. So, be prepared to show them.
This activity is ideal for:
- Staff responsible for facilitating workshops, meetings, or trainings
- Staff with experience in engaging community organizations
What you’ll need:
- Your community organization partner invitation list
- A method for taking notes
The steps:
When I’m working with the client organization to plan a partnership meeting agenda, we discuss the partnership’s scope and when they anticipate the partnership starting and ending.
Next, we hone in on organizations they believe should be involved in this partnership. This can include:
- Alignment of organizational missions
- Geographic proximity
- Organization size
- Areas of expertise
- Cultural backgrounds and perspectives
- Previous collaboration history
Take your community organization partner list and explore the above criteria. If it’s easier, create a table or spreadsheet that details this information.
As you build on the above, create a column and title it “Priority Ranking”. Your rankings will be:
- Primary partner
- Secondary partner
- Tertiary partner
A primary partner is a partner whose work directly relates to the partnership’s focus. This partner will play a key role in championing the partnership, can serve alongside you in facilitating the partnership, and has extensive knowledge on the areas the partnership will focus on.
A secondary partner is a partner whose work is intermediary in nature. They may not work directly in the partnership focus, but their work serves as a link between your organization and the community your partnership wants to serve. They also have access to the communities your partnership’s focus will impact.
A tertiary partner is a partner whose work isn’t directly within the partnership’s focus area, may not have access to the communities you partnership’s focus will impact, but can still serve as a supporter of the partnership in other ways.
Let’s process:
As you review each organization’s criteria and rankings, think through two important factors:
- Your invitation to join the partnership needs to be specific
- What you consider as primary, secondary, and tertiary may change
When reaching out to these organizations, specifically mention WHY you’re inviting them to the partnership. Highlight what you think their value add is and how this value will add to the partnership. Now isn’t the time for generic invitations.
Also, how you view an organization may not be how they view themselves. Especially when it comes to their availability and interest. A primary partner may shift to being a secondary one depending on their organizational priorities or lack of previous engagement with your organization, and a tertiary partner may become a primary partner when they connect the dots to how their work can directly impact the partnership. This all depends on how they elect to participate in the partnership.
Key takeaway
Inviting organizations to join your partnership requires being intentional on who to invite, articulating their value add to the partnership, allowing them to self select themselves into the partnership in ways that are most meaningful to them, and being open to shifts in their participating along the way.
Try this activity and let me know how it goes for you (or if you need any help). After you create your ideal list of community partners, it’s time to facilitate your first meeting.
Raise Your Voice: What has been useful for you in identifying organizations to join your partnership? Share in the comments section below.
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