Designing Our Future. Together.
Jonathan J. Halperin
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Partnership
As we all know from experience, partnerships can empower or encumber. We’ve all had those moments articulated by the King in The King and I:
“Is a puzzlement…
…Shall I join with other nations in alliance?
If allies are weak, am I not best alone?
If allies are strong with power to protect me
Might they not protect me out of all I own?”
Strategic partnerships need to be carefully designed. We help mission-driven organizations, nonprofit and commercial, assess the value of potential partnerships using our Partnership Scorecard™. Using intuition alongside objective measurement, the scorecard allows clients to measure whether a potential partnership meets the test of our core partnering principle: If two organizations can accomplish more by working together than they are already doing alone, then they should consider a partnership.
The scorecard captures and generates a numeric rating of the following elements:
- Mission
- Vision
- Values
- Leadership
- Culture
- Goals and strategy
- Finance
- Audiences
- Products/Services
- Brand
- Strengths
- Weaknesses
In the business world, short-term financial considerations can drive partnerships that then flounder due to cultural mismatch. For nonprofits with a focus on mission, partnerships can drain scarce resources and distract organizations. We bring a disciplined and balanced focus to the partnership process to help organizations seize opportunities and manage risks.
When I began to unhook from SustainAbility in 2008, after 20+ years, to co-found Volans, Jonathan was working with the US end of SustainAbility — and sent the London end of the Volans team a large cardboard box of multi-colored felt rocks, which initially I couldn't make head nor tail of. I thought he was mad, or overly American.
But I have to say that, over time, those felt rocks have become a central feature of the Volans culture, thrown by team members at other team members (or guests) on the slightest provocation. That aside, he's a consummate professional, creative collaborator, skilled communicator, and keen intellect—and I am delighted both to have had Jonathan as a colleague and to now count him as a friend.
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