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Nonprofit Business 101: Collaboration
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Few organizations are as directly dependent on volunteers as those that deliver hot food to seniors. Their clients are at risk of hunger. Without this food, their health and lives would be compromised.
Recruiting a steady, reliable stream of volunteers, then, is a top priority for these nonprofits. Hiring enough staff to do it is simply out of the question.
Rather than constantly advertising the need for new volunteers, is collaboration with other nonprofits the key? It seems to be in Oregon.
Indiana nonprofits talk a lot about collaboration; some even do it. But Bryan Orander’s Not-for-Profit News recently brought to our attention some Oregonians who have rewritten the book.
President Obama and your Social Innovation program, take note.
With new collaborations, volunteers on bicycles now deliver hot meals to seniors, opening up a world of possibilities for involving new volunteers (and making the organization green in the process). Elderly clients who could benefit from a feline companion may now get one through an arrangement with a cat adoption clinic. Seniors who can’t afford pet food can now access a new pet food bank at a local animal shelter, started when a delivery person noticed that some elderly clients were sharing their hot meals with their cats.
I’m certain Indianapolis could replicate these kinds of collaborations.
The 2008 Community Assessment commissioned by the United Way of Central Indiana provides a snapshot of human services agencies, and Connect2Help is an online searchable database that is central Indiana’s most complete listing of human services agencies.
These resources might be a place to start, but observe The Oregonian’s word of caution:
"It’s key to creative connections: Look further and look deeper. Don't stop at the name of an organization or the job title of a volunteer or employee. Look for hidden hookups."
What collaborations do you know of, or can you suggest?
P.S. Remember my post about free food going to waste? Maybe that’s a good place to start.
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