Nonprofit Business Collaboration As A Strategic Option For The Nonprofit Sector

Collaboration between nonprofit and business sectors is widely regarded as a value creation process that benefits society, business, and nonprofit organizations (NPOs). This process, however, has rarely been considered from a nonprofit perspective. In this paper, we discuss a new framework to assist NPOs in developing strategic collaborations with businesses. We argue that, by being strategically proactive rather than reactive to what businesses might offer, NPOs can increase the scale of their cross-sector collaborations and thus enhance their sustainability. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Collaboration between nonprofits and businesses is a necessary component of strategy and operations. Creating Value in Nonprofit-Business Collaborations: New Thinking & Practice provides breakthrough thinking about how to conceptualize and realize collaborative value. With over a hundred case examples from around the globe and hundreds of literature references, the book reveals how collaboration between businesses and nonprofit organizations can most effectively co-create significant economic, social, and environmental value for society, organizations, and individuals. This essential resource features the ground-breaking Collaborative Value Creation framework that can be used for analyzing the sources, forms, and processes of value creation in partnerships between businesses and nonprofits. The book is a step-by-step guide for business managers and non-profit practitioners for achieving successful cross-sector partnerships. It examines the key dimensions of the Collaborative Mindset that shape each partner's collaborative efforts. It analyzes the drivers of partnership evolution along the Collaboration Continuum, and sets forth the key pathways in the Collaboration Process Value Chain. The book concludes by offering Twelve Smart Practices of Collaborative Value Creation for the design and management of cross sector partnerships. The book will empower organizations to strategically increase the potential for value creation both for the partners and society. Praise for Creating Value in Nonprofit-Business Collaborations: New Thinking & Practice! "This is a playbook for enabling business and nonprofits to co-create shared value. These new types of collaborations about creating value, rather than the tense standoffs of the past, are part of the way we will create actual solutions to society's challenges." Michael J. Porter, Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, Harvard Business School "Co-creating value is a powerful concept Jim Austin and May Seitanidi are sharing with us that will bring business and non-profit leaders to a new level of understanding and performance. This new book is the indispensable guidebook for leaders of the future." Frances Hesselbein, Founding President and CEO of the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute, Former CEO of the Girl Scouts of America, and Holder of Presidential Medal of Freedom "I love the book! While it focuses on "cross sector" collaboration, it should be read by every executive in the "for-profit" sector. Business is about how to collaborate with stakeholders to create value. This book tells you how to do it. Bravo!" R. Edward Freeman, University Professor and Olsson Professor The Darden School University of Virginia "Finally a book that demystifies what is probably the single most indispensable strategy for advancing social change: cross sector collaboration that creates genuine, measurable value for all. The book is an original and valuable resource for both the nonprofit and business sectors, providing a promising new roadmap that shows how to go beyond fighting for one's share of the pie, to collaboration that actually makes the pie grow." Billy Shore, Founder and CEO of Share Our Strength and Chairman of Community Wealth Ventures "Professors Austin and Seitanidi provide essential guidance for managers determining how to produce benefits for their organizations and high impact for society. This is an informed, thoughtful, and practical analysis." Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School and author of SuperCorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Innovation, Profits, Growth and Social Good

Presented by The Drucker Foundation "Austin has uncovered the common elements and key strategies that make for effective collaborations.... In The Collaboration Challenge, he illuminates these key lessons for all leaders, and makes it possible for each of us to meet the collaboration challenge." —Frances Hesselbein, chairman of the board of governors, The Drucker Foundation, and John C. Whitehead, founder, The John C. Whitehead Fund for Not-for-Profit Management, Harvard Business School "Austin has performed a valuable service for nonprofit organizations and their corporate partners by illuminating the dynamics of successful relationships. His useful book deserves to be widely read by leaders in both sectors concerned about increasing the effectiveness of their social action agenda." —Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School, author of World Class and Rosabeth Moss Kanter on the Frontiers of Management "The entire nonprofit sector has been searching for the expertise and tools this book provides. Nothing else like it exists." —Bill Shore, executive director of Share-Our-Strength and author of The Cathedral Within and Revolution of the Heart In these complex times, when no organization can succeed alone, nonprofits and businesses are embracing collaboration for mutual benefits. Nonprofits are partnering with businesses to further their missions, develop resources, strengthen programs, and thrive in the competitive world. Companies are also discovering that alliances with nonprofits generate significant rewards: increased customer preference, improved employee morale, greater brand identity, stronger corporate culture, and higher innovation. In this timely and insightful book, James E. Austin provides a practical framework for understanding how traditional philanthropic relationships can be transformed into powerful strategic alliances. He offers advice and lessons drawn from the experiences of numerous collaborations, including Timberland and City Year; Starbucks and CARE; Georgia-Pacific and The Nature Conservancy; MCI WorldCom and The National Geographic Society; Reebok and Amnesty International; and Hewlett-Packard and the National Science Resource Center. Readers will learn how to: Find and connect with high-potential partners Ensure strategic fit with the partner's mission and values Generate greater value for each partner and society Manage the partnering relationship effectively

Market disruptions, climate change, and health pandemics lead the growing list of challenges faced by today’s leaders. These issues, along with countless others that do not make the daily news, require novel thinking and collaborative action to find workable solutions. However, many administrators stumble into collaboration without a strategic orientation. Using a practitioner-oriented style, Strategic Collaboration in Public and Nonprofit Administration: A Practice-Based Approach to Solving Shared Problems provides guidance on how to collaborate more effectively, with less frustration and better results. The authors articulate an approach that takes advantage of windows of opportunity for real problem solving; brings multi-disciplinary participants to the table to engage more systematically in planning, analysis, decision making, and implementation; breaks down barriers to change; and ultimately, lays the foundation for new thinking and acting. They incorporate knowledge gained from organization and collaboration management research and personal experience to create a fresh approach to collaboration practice that highlights: Collaboration Lifecycle Model Metric for determining why and when to collaborate Set of principles that distinguish Strategic Collaboration Practice Overall Framework of Strategic Collaboration Linking collaboration theory to effective practice, this book offers essential advice that fosters shared understanding, creative answers, and transformation results through strategic collaborative action. With an emphasis on application, it uses scenarios, real-world cases, tables, figures, tools, and checklists to highlight key points. The appendix includes supplemental resources such as collaboration operating guidelines, a meeting checklist, and a collaboration literature review to help public and nonprofit managers successfully convene, administer, and lead collaboration. The book presents a framework for engaging in collaboration in a way that stretches current thinking and advances public service practice.

Working Across Boundaries is a practical guide for nonprofit and government professionals who want to learn the techniques and strategies of successful collaboration. Written by Russell M. Linden, one of the most widely recognized experts in organizational change, this no nonsense book shows how to make collaboration work in the real world. It offers practitioners a framework for developing collaborative relationships and shows them how to adopt strategies that have proven to be successful with a wide range of organizations. Filled with in-depth case studies—including a particularly challenging case in which police officers and social workers overcome the inherent differences in their cultures to help abused children—the book clearly shows how organizations have dealt with the hard issues of collaboration. Working Across Boundaries includes Information on how to select potential partners Guidelines for determining what kinds of projects lend themselves to collaboration and which do not Suggestions on how to avoid common pitfalls of collaboration Strategies proven to work consistently The phases most collaborative projects go through The nature of collaborative leadership

Today's nonprofit organizations face an environment characterized by higher levels of competition for funding, clients and audiences, talent, and recognition. In addition, they confront greater pressures from donors, government, and the public to demonstrate efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability, and accountability, while intense social needs and problems, as well as the desire for growth, drive them to expand their programs and activities. Collectively, these challenges go to the heart of fundamental issues of mission and strategy. Integrating Mission and Strategy for Nonprofit Organizations applies and adapts the core body of general management knowledge about mission, strategy, and execution to help nonprofit leaders deal with the special challenges they face. It strives to draw on this knowledge in a way that does not dilute or oversimplify, and at the same time recognizes the unique features of the nonprofit or voluntary sector. James A. Phills develops an action-oriented framework that combines rigorous analysis with the practical challenge of execution and change. In addition to helping nonprofit leaders think through important decisions and make concrete choices, the book also provides a shared language and a discipline that can serve as the basis for more productive discussions between the individuals who lead nonprofits, the business executives who serve on their boards, and the philanthropists who support their organizations and programs. This last objective is critical, because too often nonprofit leaders and board members complain that they can't reap the benefits of the expertise of their supporters, funders, and volunteers from the business sector. Phills suggests that this is often the result of an inability to speak the same language and draw on a common understanding of key concepts, such as competition, strategy, and vision.

Business managers: are you considering supporting a worthy cause? Nonprofit administrators: are you considering looking for a corporate partner? Examine ways to reap the benefits—while avoiding the sometimes-hidden pitfalls—of these partnerships! In the last decade, cooperation between businesses and nonprofit organizations has increased dramatically. Businesses, no longer content to simply make contribution to worthy causes, are now working with nonprofits in ways that help them increase their visibility and reach new consumer groups. In this book, top researchers explore the how, why, and when of this kind of collaboration. In addition to examining the various types of relationships that currently exist between these kinds of organizations and what the future could hold, Nonprofit and Business Sector Collaboration goes on to explore cause-related marketing, philanthropy, social enterprise, sponsorships, alliances, licensing agreements, and more. This informative book illustrates the motives for and expected outcomes of developing these collaborative business relationships, and then gets specific with insightful examinations of: the role that marketing plays in cross-sector collaboration alliances (strategic partnerships, symbiotic marketing, etc.) and the characteristics each partner and the partnership itself must have to succeed how the public's attitude toward a charity can change when the charity accepts corporate donations how existing perceptions of a company's ethics can affect a cause-related marketing campaign Pepsi's cause-related marketing campaigns in Spain—how they were perceived by the Spanish population, and their effect on the company's image there how nonprofits can create successful relationships with corporate sponsors and their customers how businesses and arts organizations can work together for their mutual benefit and more!

A comprehensive guide to public sector collaboration with private and nonprofit organizations for better service delivery Governing Cross-Sector Collaboration tackles the issues inherent in partnerships with nongovernmental actors for public service delivery, highlighting the choices available and the accompanying challenges and opportunities that arise. Based on research, interviews with public, private and nonprofit sector leaders, and considerable analysis of organizations involved in public-private-nonprofit collaborations, the book provides insight into cross-sector collaboration at the global, federal, state, and local levels. Through an examination of the primary modes of cross-sector collaboration, including collaborative contracting, partnerships, networks, and independent public services providers, the book presents a clear case for how public managers can assess the trade-offs and use these options to improve public service delivery. Nonprofit organizations, businesses, and third-party contractors are increasingly partnering with government to deliver public services. Recognizing the types of collaborative approaches, and their potential to solve public policy problems is quickly becoming a major task for public managers, with new methods and techniques constantly emerging. Governing Cross-Sector Collaboration provides specific examples and a framework for public managers to make strategic choices about how to engage private and nonprofit actors in delivering public goods and services while ensuring the public interest. The book provides effective methods for choosing, designing, governing, and evaluating networks, partnerships, and independent public-services providers, with in-depth discussion encompassing: Analysis and engagement of cross-sector organizations Fostering democratic accountability in the public interest Collaborative approaches (including contracts, networks and partnerships) and the issues associated with each type of arrangement Leadership and organizational learning in cross-sector collaboration Included case studies illustrate effective application of the concepts and methods described, providing both practicing public and nonprofit managers and public policy/administration students with insight into these emerging strategic alliances. The first comprehensive guide to public governance collaborations, Governing Cross-Sector Collaboration is an important and timely contribution to the field of public management.

Front Cover -- Half Title -- Series Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- A Note on Quoted Material -- Introduction: Why This Book? -- 1. Summing Up, Summing Down: A Review of the Literature on Partnership -- 2. Nonprofit Partnerships: The Gold Standard -- 3. The Point of Partnering -- 4. Good to Great: Recognizing the Signs of High-Quality Partnerships -- 5. Nonprofit Partnerships by Subsector -- 6. Grant Makers' Partnership Practices -- 7. Toward Nonprofit Theory: Collaboration as a Way of (Work) Life -- Index -- Back Cover.

Turner Publishing proudly presents a fully-updated edition of The Nonprofit Strategy Revolution FINALIST, Ben Franklin Awards, Independent Book Publishers Association, Business Category The world changes continuously and rapidly. It’s foolhardy to believe that strategies should not do so as well. Nonprofit leaders already know this, but traditional strategic planning has locked them into a process that’s divorced from today’s reality. That’s why plans sit on the shelf and why smart executives are always seeking workarounds in between planning periods. The Nonprofit Strategy Revolution offers a nimble and powerful alternative. In this groundbreaking book, strategy expert David La Piana introduces “Real-Time Strategic Planning,” a fluid, organic process that engages staff and board in a program of systematic readiness and continuous responsiveness. With it, your nonprofit will be able to identify, understand, and act on challenges and opportunities as they arise. At the heart of this practical book is the Real-Time Strategic Planning Cycle. Based on four years of research and testing with a variety of nonprofits, this proven process guides you through the steps to sound strategy. You’ll find tools for clarifying your competitive advantage; generating a strategy screen—criteria for evaluating strategies to be able to respond quickly; handling big questions; developing and testing strategies; and implementing and adapting strategies. This useful guide also includes exhibits and case examples showing how concepts play out in real-life; a total of 27 tools—10 of which are essential for forming strategies; Theory to Action sidebars telling you which tool to use for a given task; and a link to downloadable content with all the tools and interactive worksheets you’ll need, as well as a Facilitator’s Guide to Real-Time Strategic Planning that gives you everything you need: the day’s agenda, instructions for preparing flip charts, prework to be done, handouts, and worksheets. Use The Nonprofit Strategy Revolution and get the clarity and direction you need for maximum mission success.