here - Tamarack CCI

Challenges to Collaborating with Business
Following are some of the key challenges to collaborating with business, and some tips on how
to meet them.
Key Challenge
Tips for Meeting The Challenge
Culture clash: Businesses and non-profits have very
different operating styles. Non-profits, for example,
are very attentive to process, while businesses tend to
be more attentive to outcomes. The non-profit sector
tends to place large emphasis on inclusion, and is
eager to ensure that all voices have been heard. This
can result in lots of meeting time before moving to the
action phase of an initiative. Businesses generally have
less tolerance for lots of meetings and discussion time,
and are eager to move more quickly to direct action.
Businesses function in a highly competitive
environment, and have generally embraced the values
of that environment. Non-profits, on the other hand,
tend to strive for a cooperative environment, which
strongly influences the culture of their organization
and networks.
Develop organizational competencies to
bridge the cultures (see “Keys to
Success”)
Wait until plans are relatively concrete
before inviting business to participate
Use “business case” language for
proposals
Take time to understand each other’s
environment
Working together requires compromise
on both sides
Internal resistance: Either party may have
stakeholders who are openly hostile towards
collaboration of any sort. The political agendas of the
two sectors tend to be quite different, with non-profits
frequently identifying the business sector as the
enemy of the social transformation they are trying to
bring about. Some business leaders feel that
collaboration on social transformation initiatives is a
diversion from their core mission, and are opposed to
it on those grounds. Achieving a high level of trust
between the two sectors can be difficult.
Be clear about what each side has to
gain
Share success stories regularly
Accept some differences – focus on the
goals that are common
Power imbalance: Non-profits have much to offer in
a collaboration with business, but they usually
approach such a collaboration feeling like supplicants.
The initiative for collaboration usually originates with
the non-profit, which is asking business to collaborate
on issues that the non-profit cares about passionately,
and that is in line with the non-profit’s core mission.
The non-profit typically needs the relationship more
than the business does, as it is asking the business to
engage in an initiative that is not part of the business’
core mission.
The business representatives need to be
sensitive to the inequities in money,
resources and connections
Be clear about what you are bringing to
the collaboration
Insist on a relationship of mutual
respect. Walk away from the relationship
in the early stages if that respect isn’t
demonstrated
Collaborating with Business for Social Transformation
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