In the piece “Windows of Collaborative Opportunity: Considerations for Governance”, researchers grapple with how public nonprofit partnerships and collaborations are governed successfully and what factors, within the organizations involved and beyond, influence the life cycle of the interactions.  By examining what the authors call the “problem stream, a policy (or solution stream), a political stream, and an organizational stream” and addressing how the convergence of problems, policies, politics and the organization can either create the conditions for a collaborative existence between organizations or create issues that could hinder the future success of an organization’s ability to collaborate.  Successful nonprofits thrive on collaboration between organizations, and it is necessary to examine how they are governed thoughtfully and without a power dynamic or imbalance between the collaborating organizations. Organizations need to be aware that changes in environments within their own organizations as well as overarching government policies can affect partnerships, and that that reality must be taken into account when trying to form collaborations.

As nonprofit workers, it is necessary to face the reality and address the situations that may cause difficulty in forming lasting collaborations between nonprofits. But, we also must look into the windows of opportunity and learn from situations where collaborations may have fallen through.  Internal governance and policy beyond a nonprofit must be considered, but for nonprofits networks to grow, transparent dialogues to exist, and actual changes in power structures and community, risks must be taken. Please read the article the full article “Windows of Collaborative Opportunity: Considerations of Governance” by Chris Cornforth, John Paul Hayes, and Siv Vangen here.