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STEP 2: Developing Partners

In this section you will be mapping out potential partners for your program.

You will:

Identify the assistance that might be most helpful to you and the potential disadvantages of partnerships that would be particularly problematic.
Decide whether or not you want to develop partnerships with others.
If appropriate, identify some potentially promising organizations to consider.

1. Consider the potential advantages and disadvantages of working in partnership with others.

Examples

Get in the Loop - Buy Recycled received $600,000 of in-kind advertising from local retailers in 1994-95. At that time, the program had engaged the participation of 863 retail stores in Washington State, including the major grocery chains. This enabled them to reach one quarter of the state's population at the point when people were choosing whether to buy products with recycled content.

A multi-sectoral project advisory committee was formed by The Roach Coach Project to enhance the inclusion of public, business, government and academic perspectives on pesticide use control methods.

Green$avers home visits gained exposure and credibility from association with such partners and programs as Natural Resource Canada and its EnerGuide label.

Portland found that cultivating relationships and partnerships with the private sector is key to a successful program. These relationships built more messengers to relate the message to a greater number of people.

Tip: In these days of limited resources, skepticism and information clutter, promotional partnerships can provide a number of key benefits including those in the right-hand column.

Tip: However, depending on how you structure and manage the partnerships, you may experience disadvantages such as those listed to the right.

Your Program

A. Consider the types of assistance that would be most helpful to you:

	sharing of financial and human resources
	a greater pool of knowledge, skills, networks and other resources to draw on
	greater credibility and perceived importance of your message
	more opportunities to reach more people more often with a consistent message

B. Determine the disadvantages of partnerships that would be particularly problematic for you:

	more complex or longer approval processes
	conflicting agendas
	time and other resources required to develop and support the partnerships
	time involved in learning new skills to manage the partnerships effectively

2. Decide if partnering is something you want to pursue further. If so, proceed to step 3.

Examples

Your Program

3. List other organizations already promoting the changes you desire to your audience.

Examples

HEADSTARTs public participation workshops began by asking participants to identify the transport issues most important to them. This information was tracked in two ways: (1) by total number of participants mentioning each issue (across all workshops), and (2) by the number of workshops at which each issue had been mentioned.

RESOURCE ALERT: CMHC provides a variety of resources in support of water efficiency, sustainable landscaping, climate change adaptation, climate change mitigation, energy efficiency, sustainable transportation, and waste reduction. For example, see Practices For Sustainable Communities, Household Guide to Water Efficiency, and Developing Consumer Information on Sustainable Community Planning.

Your Program

Other organizations already promoting the changes you desire to your audience:

4. Brainstorm about possible partners who might provide the assistance you need most.

Examples

Aarhus enlisted local police to hand out Bike Busters pamphlets to motorists for three days on three major roads.

Procter & GambleÕs Pampers division included the key Back to Sleep message on their two smallest sized diapers in English, French, and Spanish. They also created a promotional door﷓hanger, distributed the existing educational pamphlet to new mothers through the majority of hospitals in Canada, and promoted SIDS awareness through their own advertising campaigns.

Schools (see Case Studies: AIDS Peer Education Program, Bike Smarts, Go Boulder, In Concert with the Environment, Le Club Millezinc, Norway Public School, Whitney Public School)
Churches and other religious organizations
Community associations (see Case Studies: The Clean Air Commute, Global Action Plan)
Community health clinics
Governments (see Case Studies: BC21PowerSmart, Claremont, Go Boulder, In Concert, Jasper Energy Efficiency Project, Peterborough Green-Up, QuinteRegional Recycling, We're Toxic Free)
Foundations
Associations (see Case Studies: The Clean Air Commute)
Utilities (see Case Studies: BC21 PowerSmart, Be Water Wise..., Claremont, The Great Strathcona Exchange, Guelph 2000, In Concert, Jasper Energy Efficiency Project, Pacific Gas and Electric, Peterborough Green-Up, WaterSmart)
Manufacturers (see Case Studies: Be Water Wise, Get in the Loop)
Local vendors (see Case Studies: Get in the Loop, Go Boulder, The Great Strathcona Exchange, Guelph 2000)
Unions and professional associations (see Be Water Wise)
More on partnering with companies

Tip: Approach potential partners as early as possible in your planning process. This enables them to contribute more and develop a stronger investment in your mutual success.

Tip: Do not critique or reject options until you have drawn up your complete list. Then go back over the list to see which organizations might be most appropriate as partners.

Your Program

Using the your answers to question 3 (above) and the examples in the left-hand column as a guide, list organizations who have goals the same as or complementary to your own. Check off the ones who might provide the types of assistance you most require.

More on Developing Partners

Partnerships between community-based organizations and for-profit companies are particularly important. Corporations have long donated funds and resources to a variety of charities. Sometimes, this takes the form of "cause marketing", where part of an item's sale price is donated to charity. Increasingly, corporations are using their philanthropic resources even more strategically by entering into joint social marketing campaigns with public and voluntary sector partners. As with any partnership, the benefits to the companies must outweigh the costs and risks involved. Some of the key benefits that companies often look for include:

learning more about the company's target markets
enhancing employer-employee relations and contributing to workforce productivity and effectiveness, by mobilizing resources around a popular cause, and
enhancing corporate image and reputation, by responding to increasing expectations consumers have regarding social responsibility.

Paul Mattesich and Barbara Monsey of the Wilder Research Centre (http://www.wilder.org) identified six categories of factors that support successful partnerships:

There is a positive political social climate with a history of collaboration or cooperation, and partners are seen as leaders.
The members have mutual respect, trust, understanding, see collaboration in their self-interest, have the ability to compromise, and are diverse.
There is a process and structure with flexibility and adaptability, ownership and buy-in, clear roles and guidelines, and multiple layers of decision-making.
Communication is open and frequent, along formal and informal channels.
There is a unique purpose, shared vision, and concrete attainable goals and objectives.
Resources, including funds and skills, are sufficient.

A number of resources outline a staged approach to partnerships development. The Wilder Foundation envisages five such stages.

In the first stage, individuals are brought together, develop trust, confirm a vision and specify desired results.
In the second stage, organizational roles are defined and confirmed, inevitable conflicts resolved, an organization evolves (staffing, structure, roles, and resources), and individual members are supported through communication, rewards, recognition, and involvement in decision-making.
The third stage focuses on inter-organizational relations, wherein partners manage the work, create joint system, evaluate, and renew.
The fourth stage reaches to the community where sustainability is pursued, through creating visibility, involving the community, and changing systems.
The final stage involves ending the collaboration, including the creation and use of appropriate ending rituals.

Note to health promoters:

Partnering is so fundamental to the health promotion values of inclusion, collaboration, and multi-sectoral approaches that Health Canada includes partnership development in its health promotion mandate.

Additional Resources

http://www.jimmintz.ca/category/sponsorships-and-partnerships/