Charity Partnerships: Sources of Information

Pew Center for Civic Change: The organization, in Charlottesville, Va., has recently

published materials on successful collaborative efforts by groups seeking to solve social problems. The publications were produced as part of the Pew Center for Civic Change’s Solutions for America project, a $4-million research undertaking supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts to measure the performance of charitable work. One publication, “What’s Already Out There,” is a sourcebook of ideas gathered from 19 local programs on health and social welfare. The other publication, “National Problems, Local Solutions,” profiles all 19 programs. Both are available free online as PDF files at http://www.pew-partnership.org. A free print copy is available by sending an e-mail to mail@pew-partnership.org.

Strategic Solutions: A Web site called Strategic Solutions, found at http://www.lapiana.org, offers research and other information from a project supported by three foundations to study collaborations. The site is run by David La Piana, a collaboration specialist. A paper that he wrote last year, called “Real Collaboration,” summarizes many of his theories. It is available free as a PDF file on the Strategic Solutions Web site. A book by Mr. La Piana and an associate, Amelia Kohm, due out early next year, will provide findings from a three-year study on collaborations. For more information on the book, contact Ms. Kohm at (773) 256-5154 or by e-mail at kohm-amelia@chmail.spc.uchicago.edu.

Other Resources:

— Two books that describe the business and financial sides of managing collaborations are Nonprofit Mergers and Alliances: A Strategic Planning Guide, by Thomas A. McLaughlin (Jossey-Bass, 1998, $80), who advises charities on mergers as a senior manager at Grant Thornton, an accounting firm, and Forging Nonprofit Alliances, by Jane Arsenault (Jossey-Bass, 1998, $32), an adviser to health-care groups and other charities in New England. Mr. McLaughlin’s book is a guide to assessing and executing merger deals. Ms. Arsenault’s book describes such alliances as joint ventures, partnerships, and mergers.

— The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently published a report, called “Developing Successful Global Health Alliances,” which discusses strategies for managing and financing health alliances. It focuses on the foundation’s experience in building large-scale, international coalitions for improving public health. A free copy of the report is available as a PDF file from the Gates Foundation Web site at http://www.gatesfoundation.org/nr/downloads/
globalhealth/GlobalHealthAlliances.pdf.