Traditionally, nonprofits have been in competition with each other. With grants being cut and less donations flooding in, the tide is turning. Belts are tightening and ways of staying afloat are turning to the creative like forging alliances with other, either like-minded or complimentary, organizations.

There are whispers in the air of a new nonprofit business model that might be the only option for smaller nonprofits to survive this economic tumult that leverages the strength of strategic alliances among nonprofits. A positive result has come out of our current recession in the US. Non-Profits are coming together for the common good, pooling resources and personnel. Collaboration and sharing on every level from professional services to office supplies, websites and donor databases has been thrown out there to see if it will stick. They are learning to do more with less.

The Texas Association of Nonprofit Organizations suggest nonprofits collaborate by pooling resources, offering referrals to other organizations, and coordinating training and education opportunities to save time and, most importantly, money.

There are books to educate nonprofits on creating strategic partnerships in the community and with other organizations like Forging Nonprofit Alliances by Jane Arsenault and Fieldstone Alliance Nonprofit Guide to Forming Alliances by Linda Hoskins and Emil Angelica.

The Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington started holding workshops this year on topics like Nonprofit Mergers, Shared Back Office Admin and Strategic Reconstructing. 

A white paper from AIRS, a professional membership organization that brings people and information together stated that “successful non-profits will shift from sharing ideas to sharing resources and clients.”

In Charlotte, NC there is a proposal on the table to create a central web portal for all nonprofits in the area so donors could easily locate and contribute funds, but some charities are concerned about being lost among the hundreds of other organizations on the site. The idea is in response to a program called Mission Possible that Charlotte is pioneering to find creative solutions to the nonprofit crisis.

So is this a temporary band-aid or the “new normal”? We’re thinking only time will tell. It seems like a no-brainer, but are organizations willing to concede control and market share just to help out their fellow charity? Well in the name of charity, we hope so.

Have a story about how your nonprofit is collaborating to save precious resources? Tell us about it.

Angela Magee is VP of Communications at JenSea Solutions, a strategic fundraising firm and she can be reached at angela@jenseasolutions.com. For more information about JenSea Solutions visit JenSeaSolutions.com.