How do you recognize your social impact partners?

1 Know your purpose

Before you start looking for partners, you need to have a clear idea of why you want to partner and what you hope to accomplish. What are the specific problems or challenges that you want to address? What are the outcomes or indicators that you want to measure? What are the gaps or opportunities that you need to fill or explore? Having a clear purpose will help you narrow down your search and communicate your expectations to potential partners.

2 Do your research

Once you have a purpose, you need to do some research on the organizations that match your criteria. You can use online databases, directories, networks, or referrals to find potential partners. You can also attend events, webinars, or workshops related to your topic or sector. You want to learn as much as you can about their mission, vision, values, strategies, activities, impact, reputation, and culture. You also want to check their financial and legal status, governance, and accountability. You can use online tools, reports, reviews, or ratings to verify their information and credibility.

3 Engage in dialogue

After you have a shortlist of potential partners, you need to engage in dialogue with them. You can reach out to them via email, phone, or social media and request a meeting or a call. You want to establish a rapport and a trust with them and explore their interest and readiness to partner with you. You want to ask them questions about their goals, needs, challenges, strengths, and expectations. You also want to share your own answers to these questions and see how well they align with theirs. You want to look for signs of mutual respect, understanding, and commitment.

4 Assess the fit

Finally, you need to assess the fit between you and your potential partners. You want to compare and contrast your missions, visions, values, strategies, activities, impacts, and cultures. You want to identify the areas of alignment and divergence, the potential benefits and risks, and the opportunities and challenges of partnering. You want to evaluate how well you complement each other's strengths and weaknesses, how well you communicate and coordinate with each other, and how well you share and manage resources and responsibilities. You want to use a framework or a tool to help you score and rank your potential partners.

5 Negotiate the terms

Once you have selected your social impact partners, you need to negotiate the terms of your partnership. You want to define the scope, duration, roles, expectations, contributions, and deliverables of your partnership. You want to agree on the objectives, indicators, and methods of measuring and reporting your impact. You want to establish the processes and mechanisms of communication, coordination, decision-making, feedback, and conflict resolution. You want to document and formalize your partnership in a written agreement or a memorandum of understanding.

6 Review and improve

Finally, you need to review and improve your social impact partnership on a regular basis. You want to monitor and evaluate your progress and performance against your goals and indicators. You want to collect and analyze data and feedback from your partners and stakeholders. You want to celebrate your achievements and acknowledge your challenges. You want to identify the areas of improvement and innovation and implement the necessary changes and adaptations. You want to maintain and strengthen your relationship and trust with your partners and seek new ways to enhance your impact.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?