For organisations

Clarify the ‘why’ — articulate together the shared vision and outcomes for the project and what you want it collectively to achieve.

Take time to set up the partnership — collaborations are most effective when partners build strong foundations, plot out each partner’s roles and responsibilities and create a culture of shared accountability, clarity and commitment from all involved.

Give the partnership as much love as the project — include partnership development time in your project budget.

For support on how to approach working in collaboration, take a look at the Take Note Collaboration Guidebook, designed as a route map and travel companion through your collaboration journey. Each tool provides a structure to support you from the spark of a new idea to delivery and evaluating your work together, whether you have worked in partnership many times before, or this is the first time you are working with others.

For funders

Offer specific funding for collaborations.

Interrogate your application process and consider whether it facilitates collaboration and encourages organisations to apply with others.

Fund the time it takes to collaborate well and encourage grantees to build in additional partnership development costs into their budgets.

For recommendations and a practical model for funders to adopt and adapt when considering how best to fund and support collaborations, take a look at Funding Collaborations: A Blueprint.