How charity partnerships strengthen the sector 

The charity sector, from the outside, might appear competitive. With so many charities vying for attention, with various messages stemming from all directions, it can seem difficult to get your charity’s message across, to reach new donors, funders, and beneficiaries, and raise awareness.

At first glance, the charity sector might appear competitive, with countless organizations championing worthy causes and eager to have their messages resonate with new donots, funders, and beneficiaries. However, this vibrant ecosystem also offers opportunities for connection and collaboration, enabling charities to amplify their impact, reach wider audiences, and create lasting change together. 

The key to unlocking greater impact lies not in competition, but in working together. Time and again, we’ve witnessed the incredible support and solidarity that define the charity sector.. At Charity Digital’s recent Digital Fundraising Summit, for example,  we saw charities come together to share ideas and find solutions on everything from simplifying donor journeys to modernising fundraising events. The shared learning, the amplification of knowledge, proves vital in keeping the sector up-to-date with new trends and the latest ways of working, helping charities respond effectively to the newest challenges and seize the latest opportunities.  

One session at the Digital Fundraising Summit delved directly into this issue, In “Champion your cause: Maximising your impact through collaboration”, chaired by the Public Interest Registry (PIR), a panel of charity experts explored the importance of working with other charities putting into practical terms the knowledge  that, as a sector, we are always stronger together.   

The panel discussed how charities can align their goals and values to create lasting partnerships, how they can use pilot projects to drive impact, and how to deepen alliances with charities with similar goals.  

As charities face increasing challenges in the future – the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) and increased demand for services amid financial uncertainty, to name just two – collaboration can support the effective delivery of services to your users, streamline the day-to-day work of charities, and make it easier to learn from others that are working on different areas of the same challenge. 

We explore three takeaways from the panel and explore how more collaboration can improve our sector.   

Collaboration takes advantage of strengths 

As we work towards common goals, collaboration is our strength. And it also plays to our strengths. Alice Corrigan, Trustee and Fundraising Advisor at The Pachamama Project, gives a clear example of how the Pachamama Project relies on partnerships to fulfil its mission. Their recent goal of distributing sustainable menstrual pads to Lebanon depended on a local organisation called The Free Shop.  

The Free Shop had vital space needed to store resources and the distribution networks that ensured resources went to the right people. In partnering with each other, each organisation played to their strength, working together to multiply their impact. They achieved more than either could have achieved alone.  

Bridget Rundquist, Director of Partnerships & Community Engagement, echoes the point, explaining how Share Our Spare depends on collaboration. They work with more than 120 non-profit organisation and thousands of in-kind donors to provide essential resources to communities.  

But they faced a problem during the pandemic, with the inability to put on their typical fundraising drives to meet needs of their community. Collaboration provided a solution.  

Share Our Spare worked with RightGift, a non-profit virtual platform, which hosted a virtual fundraising drive, allowing Share Our Spare to raise funds and provide essentials despite the pandemic. The example shows that, by virtue of collaboration, two independent charities were able to find a mutually beneficial solution that boosted impact, relying on their strengths.  

Partnership boosts fundraising opportunities 

Andrea Johnson, Executive Director at Green Empowerment, says that the charity was part of a collective vision of mapping all unelectrified villages in the state of Sabah, Malaysia. Four organisations, three of which are local, worked together to successfully create a map of the villages. But they did not only provide a service together, Johnson explains. They also decided to fundraise together.  

It proved successful. They found a grant to develop the Sabah Rural Electrification Roadmap and currently seek funds for the execution of the projects. The consortium model, Johnson says, allows the best positioned organisation to lead on fundraising. That would likely appeal to funders, as they’ll be able to more immediately notice the benefits, especially if one organisation can champion local expertise.  

And charities generally improve their chances of securing funding through collaboration. That’s because funders generally prefer charities that collaborate due to the various benefits it provides. 

Rundquist mentions the challenges of funding, which is particularly applicable to the hyper-localised Share Our Spare. Localised charities can benefit from the local when applying for grants that appeal to the local. But, for wider grants, for grant-funders that are perhaps aiming for wider application, the hyper-local can prove a deterrent and local funding options may prove limited. 

But working with other organisations achieves two essential goals: allowing access to more funding opportunities and making more of the funding available through the act of collaboration.  

Corrigan echoes the above point and adds that partners can become conduits for funding, with charities championing the work of their collaborators. Many might see a funding opportunity that looks fantastic but exists outside the scope of their mission. The funding might better suit a key collaborator. Partnerships therefore raise awareness of each partner and bring partners in front of the right funding options.  

Impact partnerships provide a ripple effect of benefits 

One partnership begets others. Working with a partner allows charities to access communities, work with new people, and explore new ways to help. The partnership with The Free Shop, Corrigan says, helped The Pachamama Project forge new connections and find new solutions to problems, boosting overall impact. Benefits of partnership seem to have a ripple effect. 

Rundquist echoes that point. Various organisations in Chicago, where Share Our Spare work, aimed to support people coming into the city with the essentials: food, clothing, and so on. Share Our Spare were not involved in the initial conversations, until one of their collaborators mentioned the work they could achieve. That meant that Share Our Spare could bring their expertise, which led to new introductions, which then led to new partnerships and greater impact. 

The ripple effect of benefits works both ways. In the act of partnership, charities gain new partners, but each new partner may recommend your charity to their partners – precisely what happened to Share Our Spare. Collaboration provides a ripple effect of benefits, mutually beneficial, felt by organisations and service users alike.