James Cleveland, President, Jumpstart
Kathleen VanDernoot, Alliances and Programs, Pearson Foundation
David Murphy, President and CEO, Better World Books
LuAnne Zurlo, Founder and Executive Director, WorldFund
Partnership lifecycle overview: The panel began by exploring the lifecycle of partnerships from birth to exit. The discussion aimed to uncover answers to some key questions: How do partnerships begin? How do they evolve? What kind of tensions emerge in a non profit - for profit relationship, and how are they managed? What happens to partnerships when there is a downturn in the market?
Key insights of partnership lifecycles:
The formation of the Jumpstart and Pearson relationship was not random - it was due to a deliberate search on Pearson's part to find the right organization to partner with. Specifically, they were looking for a "like-minded partner that was aligned with our goals." Jumpstart originally engaged in the partnership with grand plans to form a large Teacher Fellowship program to address the issue of teacher quality in the United States, but ultimately discovered that this goal extended outside the bounds of their core competencies, and their grand goals would likely not be reached. Together, Pearson and Jumpstart evolved their relationship to create a new program, Jumpstart's Read of the Record campaign, which met both of the organizations' objectives and worked well within their key capabilities. A key to success was the combined drive to a solution; the partnership evolved not unilaterally, but rather, with both sides as equal players in making decisions.
The partnership between Better World Books and WorldFund began serendipitously: Better world Books was in need of a credible literacy partner to reach the underserved population in Latin America, and a member of the organization had a common connection with WorldFund. The partnership has seen less evolution since its beginnings primarily due to its relatively short time frame. Better World Books' entire business model relies on the mission of its partner organizations, for it is primarily these partners who drive book donations to the organizations.
Value creation overview: The second key theme of the panel was the exploration of value, and the incremental value provided to each partner organization because of the partnership. Without question, value is not just about money. Money is important, but it can be limiting as a metric. Thus, the panelists addressed key questions that dug into the value creation process of their partnerships: How do the organizations think about value creation? How about value capture? What makes it sustainable? What unique resources do partners offer in collaborations? How do they work with partners that might share their values (literacy) but are organized differently (non profit vs. for profit models)?
Key insights of value creation:
The Pearson-Jumpstart relationship has helped open many new customer relationships for Pearson, which they would not have been able to have without the partnership because of their "big corporate status." Often, when potential customers realize that Pearson is heavily connected to Jumpstart and its Read for the Record campaign, they are far more open to continuing the dialogue than they may have been previously. Likewise, Jumpstart has been able to grow tremendously as an organization because of this partnership with Pearson. Not only has Pearson's resources helped grow a campaign that allows them to reach more children, but they've also provided invaluable strategic support. These intangible means of value (versus just dollars) are some of the most important value areas that allow Jumpstart to have a higher impact in child literacy.
To have a business, Better World Books is faced with the challenge of needing to create a high level of trust among its constituents (the donors of books and the buyers of books). It is their nonprofit partners that provide them the credibility to create the trust with its constituents. Through the integrity created from partnerships with organizations like WorldFund, Better World Books has been able to scale its business to a very high level: they provide $7/minute of donations to their partner organization, which translates to $4M of donations per year. In turn, WorldFund is able to focus its efforts on its programs, its area of greatest strength, and lean on Better World Books to fill its skill gaps on the business side.
Final insights: seven key takeaways to a successful partnership:
- Build strong relationships within and across the partnering organizations
- Foster clear communication between each partner organization
- Be clear on what you can and cannot do; manage expectations and be honest
- Understand the business objectives of the corporation and try to align your own work within those objectives
- Ensure senior level buy-in
- Have complementary skills and objectives
- Focus on values: long-term viability of partnership relies on understanding the values of each partner organization
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