Business people often express amazement at how fragmented the non-profit world has become. There’s a charity for every niche cause and a golf tournament and banquet for every one of them. The business world, competitive and survival of the fittest, sees that charities should be sharing resources, collaborating, and leveraging partnerships. Sound great. So why don’t more non-profits do this?
1. Scarcity mentality – There may not be a competition in the business sense, but we all need dollars to fulfill our charitable purposes. Unfortunately this often leads to a very narrow way of looking at resources. “There’s not enough” is the scarcity motto that rings in the ears of every non-profit leader. Fight the urge to give in… it only narrows your thinking and leads to a death spiral. Think abundance, evaluate, partner, collaborate and focus on YOUR core mission: the thing only you can do.
2. Lack of Focus – When you know what you are supposed to do, when you are focused like a laser on the one thing your organization is doing that others are not, then partnership becomes more attractive… even preferable, to doing everything yourself. Sadly, in my experience charities have too broad of a focus and start getting into other lanes that defuse their core strength and overlap with others to a great extent. Here at The Rescue Mission we’ve been focusing on the one thing we do; offering holistic Life Transformation to the homeless, addicted and hungry of Pierce County. That means we’ve had to get out of other ministries which were equally valid, God-honoring and excellent that weren’t in our core focus. That is so tough, but I knew there were other agencies that would better handle those kinds of services. In most cases it’s worked out, in some cases we’ve learned tough lessons. But I still think it’s better to focus.
3. Feeling of inequity – Sometimes charities don’t partner because they have a feeling of inequity. One is bigger than the other, there seems to be a power differential and one begins to feel insecure. Here’s a better way to think of it: Does a great point guard in basketball feel insecure in the presence of an excellent center? No, because that point guard knows his/her strengths are different than that of a center. In the same way, a smaller non-profit can be nimble, lean and quick in ways that another larger agency may not be. That’s to their advantage and through partnership there can be great alignments that work well together.
What are some other barriers to partnership, and how can we break them down so that our communities can be stronger, more integrated and do more good?
David Curry