How do you build and sustain partnerships with other social entrepreneurs, funders, or stakeholders?

3 Negotiate your expectations and roles

The third step is to negotiate your expectations and roles with your potential partners. This means establishing clear and realistic goals, objectives, indicators, and timelines for your partnership, and defining the roles, responsibilities, contributions, and rewards of each partner. You can use tools such as memoranda of understanding, contracts, agreements, or action plans to formalize and document your partnership. However, the most important thing is to ensure that your partnership is based on mutual benefit, accountability, transparency, and respect.

4 Manage your relationship and performance

The fourth step is to manage your relationship and performance with your existing partners. This means maintaining regular and effective communication, monitoring and evaluating your progress and impact, providing and receiving feedback, resolving conflicts and challenges, and celebrating successes and learning from failures. You can use tools such as meetings, reports, surveys, dashboards, or reviews to facilitate and document your partnership. However, the most important thing is to nurture your relationship, trust, and commitment with your partners.

5 Adapt and innovate your partnership

The fifth step is to adapt and innovate your partnership with your existing or new partners. This means recognizing and responding to the changing needs, opportunities, and challenges in your social problem and your partnership, and finding ways to improve, scale, or diversify your partnership. You can use tools such as brainstorming, prototyping, testing, or piloting to explore and implement new ideas or approaches for your partnership. However, the most important thing is to foster a culture of learning, creativity, and collaboration with your partners.

6 Share your stories and impact

The final step is to share your stories and impact with your existing or potential partners. This means telling and showing how your partnership has made a difference in your social problem and your partners' lives, and inviting others to join or support your partnership. You can use tools such as stories, testimonials, case studies, or media to communicate and document your partnership. However, the most important thing is to inspire, influence, and engage others with your partnership.

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?