Case Study
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Community-Based Non Profit
Strategic Partnership Development
After ten years running a large, successful, community-wide conference, this small start-up realized that it needed a long-term sustainability plan to continue its work. It imagined that the most viable route would be to merge with a larger, more established organization with sophisticated infrastructure.
Challenge
In the absence of full-time professional leadership, the board and other voluntary leaders felt stretched thin. Additionally, a limited history of major gifts fundraising left little in the bank as a “dowry” for prospective merger partners.
Solution
Rather than merging, the organization realized that with a focused plan, strong executive leadership, and a formal partnership with an established organization it could generate the revenue and operating efficiencies to achieve a bright, independent future.
Process
• Convened a planning committee to develop a précis and multi-year financial projection to describe its ambitions.
• Identified and interviewed a short list of prospective partner organizations with members of the committee.
• Designed a pilot collaboration with one finalist organization and developed a short-list of long-time donors to develop a sustainability fund.