The Collaboration Challenge

Already this year, in Common Interest, Common Good: Creating Value through Business and Social Sector Partnerships, Shirley Sagawa and Eli Segal outlined the benefits of partnerships between businesses and nonprofit organizations. There they profiled seven successful examples of such relationships. Now Austin, author of numerous books on business and management in developing countries and a business professor at Harvard, makes his own similar case in this Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management Leaderbook. He identifies major alliances and examines how they function, looking at the various stages through which they must pass. He explains the role of top leadership and emphasizes the importance of a strategic "fit" between the two partners. Austin suggests different areas within organizations for alignment as well as ways for partners to analyze the value of their collaboration. He then considers ongoing practical management issues and concludes with guidelines for collaborations and questions that must be addressed. David Rouse


A renowned Harvard Business School professor shows how businesses can strengthen their bottom line by partnering with nonprofit causes -- and how nonprofits can use such partnerships to grow and prosper.


As we enter the 21st century, collaboration continues to be an imperative for the survival of many nonprofit organizations. As nonprofits seeks ways to find new resources in an increasingly competitive world, businesses are also finding that partnership with nonprofits can strengthen employee...