EFA-logoEFA-logoEFA-logoEFA-logo
  • About us
    • Our board
    • What we do
    • How we work
    • Ethics
    • Our history
    • Privacy Policy
  • Membership
    • Member benefits
    • EFA members
    • EFA associates
    • Join EFA
  • EFA Certification
    • Certification news
    • Why EFA Certification?
    • Standard Competence Framework handbook
    • Advanced Competence Framework handbook
    • EFA qualifications
    • Applying for EFA Certification
    • Certification committee
  • Public Affairs
    • Public Affairs news
  • News
    • Fundraising Europe
    • Latest news
    • Latest features
    • EFA news
    • European Fundraising Podcast
    • Contributor guidelines
    • Advertise with EFA
  • Events
    • Events Calendar
    • 2022 Nonprofit Pulse survey webinar
    • 2022 EFA Skillshare and AGA
  • Resources
  • About us
    • Our board
    • What we do
    • How we work
    • Ethics
    • Our history
    • Privacy Policy
  • Membership
    • Member benefits
    • EFA members
    • EFA associates
    • Join EFA
  • EFA Certification
    • Certification news
    • Why EFA Certification?
    • Standard Competence Framework handbook
    • Advanced Competence Framework handbook
    • EFA qualifications
    • Applying for EFA Certification
    • Certification committee
  • Public Affairs
    • Public Affairs news
  • News
    • Fundraising Europe
    • Latest news
    • Latest features
    • EFA news
    • European Fundraising Podcast
    • Contributor guidelines
    • Advertise with EFA
  • Events
    • Events Calendar
    • 2022 Nonprofit Pulse survey webinar
    • 2022 EFA Skillshare and AGA
  • Resources
✕
An older woman smiles as she looks at her Apple ipad. By Anna Shvets on Pexels
Anna Turner: Harnessing the power of digital for legacy fundraising
September 14, 2022
Looking down on a group of people in a circle all touching hands in the centre. By Fauxels on Pexels
Simona Biancu: Bridging the gap between fundraising researchers & practitioners
October 12, 2022

Sofia Breitholtz: How can partnerships accelerate change?

October 12, 2022
Categories
  • Expert View
  • Features
Tags
  • Strategic partnerships
Two women of colour laugh in front of a laptop. One makes a heart shape with her hands

Nonprofits perform many vital roles but have to juggle delivering their mission with limited resources. This makes a strong case for building partnerships that can leverage other sectors’ strengths and resources says Sofia Breitholtz, CEO of Reach for Change. In this month’s Expert View, she shares some of the lessons her organisation has learned in seeking out these alliances.

At their core, nonprofits are all about lasting societal change. They often exist to fill a void in society that no other sector fills ­– whether through giving a voice to the voiceless, providing healthcare to the underserved, or protecting our environment. In addition to juggling complex missions and beneficiaries, they must continue to fundraise for their existence while delivering strong and effective programmes. All this while juggling restricted resources and high degrees of staff burnouts. There is therefore a strong case to be made for building partnerships that can leverage other sectors’ strengths’ and resources. As the old adage goes – “if you want to walk fast, go alone, if you want to walk far, go together.”

When done right, cross-sector partnerships can be a powerful tool for nonprofits to leverage their cause and accelerate their impact.  They can provide much-needed financial resources, help amplify their message, and open up new networks and opportunities. But they can also be extremely time consuming and challenging to execute – and especially maintain.

Reach for Change has been providing a model for scaling social innovation and entrepreneurship across three continents since 2009. This model is built on support and partnership with the corporate sector, where we rely on their resources, competences and core business strengths to deliver our programs. And we leverage this through so-called “co-worker engagement” programmes. Partnerships are critical to us in order to attain social impact. We also hope that our entrepreneurs identify pathways of scale through social procurement or other corporate alliances.

Lessons from our partnerships along this journey are that “soft skills” such as culture, leadership, and storytelling cannot be underestimated. At the same time, we have identified some “hard” and results-based features that need to be kept in mind when seeking out these types of alliances.

 

Get off to a good start

We are taught the lesson again and again – that social change does not happen overnight. This is a lesson our entrepreneurs teach us more than not, by applying to our incubator year after year with new innovations or pivoted models – all to support the core problem that they are passionate about solving. Our most frequent argument for our partners is to stick with it. Social change cannot occur in the current rush for quarterly results and earnings. This is a dialogue that must be had, especially with financial partners, whose strategies can often change and pivot, over and over again. And do be able to get to a place where such dialogue is possible, we cannot under-commit to aligning expectations, identifying realistic project plans with clear deliverables and agreeing on impact goals early on.

 

Partnerships require resources

Partnerships work best if we allocate the necessary resources to make them fly. We have seen that continuous joint evaluations, joint communication plans and bringing on new partners together strengthens the sustainability of the project. It is best to be transparent about the resources required from your end and from the partners’ end. Some of our best programmes have come from partners that understand the effectiveness of pilot phases and investing in programme design.

 

Put in the time

Investing in a partnership means investing in partner relationships. We model open and frequent dialogue and transparency, also when the project plan and deliverables are not progressing as hoped for. Schedule regular touch points, take the time to get to know one another and ask for feedback. And do not be afraid of admitting failures or hiccups. This is not only key for the not-for-profit, but also for the funding partner, or corporate to understand. Often times, it is also a desired role for many employees who want to work with purpose-related activities.

 

Promote a build-measure-learn approach

We love to co-create. Our innovative partnership approach means that we can pilot, refine, pivot together. Our joint values and impact goals keep us on track, but we always have fun on our journey. Our partnerships give us the opportunity to create experimental playgrounds and a platform for mutual learning.

 

The impact will always count

It’s important to measure and evaluate our impact for numerous reasons. When a partnership comes to an end, which it always will at some point, measurement and evaluation will ensure we bring our learnings with us. This will strengthen the outputs and outcomes of new impact partnerships to come. Last but not least – remember to celebrate the partnership’s successes and the impact created.

 

And finally, sometimes you need to stand firm. Creating social impact takes skill sets that are honed and developed over time. These are critical and need to be evaluated and awarded in the same way as marketing a product, or selling a service should be. Sometimes, partnerships do not fit with values and mission. And it is up to mission related organisations to know their full worth and fight for that worth.

 

Sofia Breitholtz

Sofia Breitholtz

About Sofia Breitholtz

CEO at Reach for Change Sofia Breitholtz believes in the power of bringing diverse sectors and perspectives together to solve global challenges. She has a passion for questions around the future of our children and youth, women’s empowerment and empathetic leadership. Sofia has previous experience from strategy and management consulting with EY and from working with sustainability at Ben & Jerry’s/Unilever, she also has experience from development cooperation with the EU in Southern Africa and from social entrepreneurship as Deputy CEO of Solvatten, as well as experience from several Board positions in the not-for-profit sector.

 

Picture: Reach for Change

 

 

 

Share

Related posts

February 22, 2023

Felix Freese: In emergencies act fast, talk faster


Read more
Fundraising@LT PRO session with K. Bartovicova and K.Kovacsne Beres

Fundraising@LT PRO session with K. Bartovicova and K.Kovacsne Beres

February 22, 2023

Giedrė Šopaitė-Šilinskienė: Developing fundraising competencies – a case study from Lithuania


Read more
January 18, 2023

Special focus: What can nonprofits expect from 2023?


Read more

Most popular posts

Search news by country or category

Search news by date

Popular topics

  • Research
  • Individual giving
  • Coronavirus
  • Digital
  • Professional development
  • Legacies
  • Philanthropic trends
  • Events
  • Collaboration
  • Tax incentives

Registered Office

James Wattstraat 100
NL-1097 DM Amsterdam
Netherlands

EFA is registered at the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce
Reg. No. 34212817

Contact

Executive Officer, Denise Dawes
denise.dawes@efa-net.eu

Media enquiries:
news@efa-net.eu

Follow us

Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn

Search

✕
© 2021 EFA | European Fundraising Association. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Read More
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT