THE TRAINING NEED:

An important shift is taking place in the way nonprofits and communities approach collaboration. Traditionally a crisis often serves as the impetus for a collaborative effort – funding cutbacks that require several organizations to pool resources, for example, or a rise in unemployment that compels nonprofits to unite in serving those who have lost their jobs. But a growing number of forward-looking nonprofits aren’t waiting to be forced into collaboration. They have come to see that the best way to fulfill their mission is to seek and build on collaborations wherever they can. Increasingly as nonprofits become more skilled at self-assessment and strategic planning, the impetus to pursue one or more forms of collaboration comes from within the organizations themselves. They begin to understand that collaboration can be a vehicle for expansion into new areas of service requiring the resources of more than one organization or to proactively address an emerging community issue. While there is no simple prescription for collaboration, neither is there anything mysterious about it. This workshop will describe models for collaboration that can be used to increase agency influence, share information and resources, enhance service delivery and quality, improve community visibility, raise funds, and more.

TRAINING TOPICS:

The workshop will use a combination of training methods including presentation, group discussion, small group work projects, and completion of planning worksheets by participants. Topics to be covered are:

• Best practices: Collaboration and alliance building models that work
• Overcoming barriers to collaborations and alliances
• Defining roles and responsibilities of collaboration members
• Organizing guidelines for developing collaborations and alliances
• The collaboration's internal functions (decision-making, staffing, fundraising, inter-personal and inter-group issues)
• When it's time to end a collaboration or alliance

The session will feature case examples of successful collaborations and alliances initiated by nonprofits involved in community improvement efforts.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:

Executive staff, and other paid or volunteer personnel of organizations currently involved in collaboration or networking, or anticipating future involvement in such efforts.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing." Edmund Burke  View Past Quotes

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© 2008 Creative Information Systems 

Revised: November 17, 2008