When trying to distinguish your nonprofit from others in your sector, it can be easy to feel competitive and not collaborative. But, teaming up with like-minded organizations with similar values and missions can actually be more beneficial than you might think.
This blog post will uncover why collaboration, not competition, is the key to nonprofit success.
Nonprofit partnerships can help you compensate for weaknesses
No nonprofit is perfect. That means, every charity, no matter its goals, has weaknesses. With limited budgets, often small staff, and tight timelines, it’s impossible for any organization to be flawless in their work.
By collaborating with a nonprofit that serves similar beneficiaries, and engages in similar programming, your charities can complement one another. If your nonprofit lacks educational resources on colorectal cancer, for example, but a similar nonprofit has an accessible array of important information, teaming up together might be a stellar move. By teaming up, your organization can provide an even more holistic approach to the issue at hand.
Nonprofit partnerships can help you create more impact
One of the more obvious reasons for collaborating is to create more impact. Most nonprofits are created by a passion for social good. They want to help as many people as they can and make as much impact as possible.
When nonprofits partner, they reach more audiences and create more impact. With the combined power of two or more nonprofits working together, more progress is made than one nonprofit working alone.
Nonprofit partnerships can help you reduce expenses
One of the biggest data points that charities struggle with is their expenditure. For most nonprofits, it is crucial to keep expenditure low. Whether spent on administrative costs or staff salaries, charities are hyper-aware of their costs.
By collaborating with a similar nonprofit that complements your own, you have the ability to tap into a reservoir of new resources. This can help you put your expenditure in check. By leaning on another organization, you take a weight off of your nonprofit’s shoulders.
When you collaborate with a new nonprofit, share your partnership(s) with your communities to build trust through transparency.