So you’re thinking about working with the competition...?

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Activity

Why bother working with others organisations?

or...

Anyone had experience of working as/under a lead partner, in a formal partnership, or an incorporated consortium?

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Benefits of consortia

• Better meet community needs through increased access to other resources and specialisms

• Cut costs through shared overheads/buying

• Stronger bids

• Stronger campaigning/credibility

• Reduce isolation and duplication

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Different types of consortia (not just about service delivery)

formalinformal

temporary

permanent

Sharing goodpractice

Local networking

campaigning

Joint projects (training, purchasing,...)

Nationalassociation

Shared premises

Shared 'backoffice' functions

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• Different forms:-– Lead partner as accountable body with other partners– Partnership– Formal consortium

• Organisations retain their independence – their own boards, own staff, own culture

• But they bid, purchase or share together• Voluntarily agree to work together in the same ways – in

order to survive• Savings may be less than in merging

TRADING COLLABORATIONS

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• Consider collaboration when:-– There is a real need for different organisations– But you do complementary work– You contract (some) services from the same

commissioners– You can reduce costs for jointly buying, sharing or

co-locating – You may be members of two or more

collaborations for different things

WHEN TO COLLABORATE

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Activity

What makes a partnership work well?

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Common barriers to collaboration

• Lack of trust• Different approaches and methods• Lack of shared vision and values• Each partner unable to retain

independence• Frustration over time – how much is

needed and how long it takes to generate results

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Framework to develop a collaboration

• Understand what's in it for the other guys

• Be clear as to why you're the best people for them to partner with

• Think about impacts on staff/volunteers/beneficiaries (theirs and yours)

• Budget finance and time needed to develop and maintain the partnership

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Structures for collaboration:

• Lead partner• Prime contractor• Merger• Partnerships• Special Purpose Vehicles• SLAs• Ongoing vs. time limited• ...

But we’ve very little time, so will focus on the ‘big 3’

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Lead (Prime) Contractor

• One organisation is responsible for performance, often referred to as the Accountable Body

• Responsible for overall project management and quality assurance

• Can be one or several sub-contractors

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Lead partnerone member acts as contract holder on behalf of all

• Clear leadership

• Little administrative burden for overall partnership to establish and administer

• Easier to quality assure delivery

• Less transparency between members

• Potential ‘shutting out’ of members

• Higher risk and cost to lead partner

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Partnerships

• A partnership can be structured as a General Partnership or a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) and are often long term arrangements.

• Partnerships are formed when two or more people/organisations come together to partake in business activities with the aim of making a profit.

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Formal partnershipdocumented agreements, processes, full participation of all in governance

• Transparent

• Shared responsibility = higher engagement (in theory...)

• More in keeping with sector values of inclusivity and mutual support

• Resource implications for members to participate

• Likely no consistent approach to contracts pursued re: financing, ITT, etc so varying quality

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Incorporated consortium (SPV)a shared ‘philosophy’ but different legal forms

All consortia are forms of co-operative – several bodies coming

together to achieve what they could not alone, and for mutual benefit

• IPS (now Co-op Society)

• Charitable Company

• CIC

• LLP

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Incorporated consortium (SPV)legal entity partners are members/owners of

• Protection of members’ risk

• Likely more credible with commissioning bodies

• Clearer lines of responsibility

• Easier to created shared ‘brand’

• Cost to establish and administer

• Will need working capital to operate and cash-flow contracts in its own right

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Which model is the best?

• Risk• Control• Credibility with stakeholders• Capacity• Each organisations’ own governing documents

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But whatever option is pursued...

• Need to clearly identify own interests, expectations and commitment able to make (aka ‘due diligence’)

• Should document agreements (MoU, Articles, SLA, contracts, etc)

• Accept that the ‘end destination’ may not be what you start out to create...

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The Key Issues - • Purpose of the collaboration• Who will be members/partners• Clarification of roles and responsibilities• How will the collaboration be managed• Finance - who pays the costs, shares the profits?• Who owns Intellectual Property Rights?• How will quality be assured?• Dealing with disagreements and conflicts

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For further guidance:

• http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/advice-support/collaborative-working

• http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/detailed-guidance/working-with-other-organisations/choosing-to-collaborate-how-to-succeed/

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