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You should always be really clear on what your reasons for merging/collaborating are. It should be about extending the reach or diversifying your impact, not just growth or chasing money. Also, many charities think merging is the only option when facing tough times. Sometimes it is, but if not done strategically it can ultimately lead to the same conclusion. 

Values, for any organisation, are important. But in the charity sector, this should be what drives every decision you make. When starting a new collaboration, map out your values, mission and organisational strategy. Then stick to that strategy and only engage with potential partners that can help you achieve your goals. Too many charities (not just small ones) chase money and drift from their vision. Share that vision with potential partners and help them to see how they can genuinely help, especially with limited internal capacity. And if it doesn’t align with your mission, don't be afraid to say ‘no’.

Think broadly about the skills and expertise gap that a partner could fill to best support your beneficiaries/community. It starts with strategic planning and being clear about the context you are working in, carrying out external and emerging trends analysis and competitor/collaborator mapping.

Start by building relationships with your local communities. Local-level alliances are a really good route to develop connections and foster collaborations. For example, the VCSE Alliance has a pivotal role to play in understanding the VCSE sector and ecosystem and connecting charities. In Gloucestershire, the county council has commissioned locality-based ‘Know your patch’ networks which are facilitated by local charities. They are around connecting VCSE and the public sector and provide a regular space (online and in meetings) for charities to get together and engage. These networks take time to develop and become known and trusted, but they seem to be a really positive development in the county. 

Know the party you’re getting into bed with and spend real-time understanding their business, their motivation for collaboration and whether you’re a cultural or values ‘fit’. Don't say yes just because it means growth; the cost to your own organisation of merger or collaboration could be years of turmoil and lost productivity whilst your own vision and mission drifts. Be clear on what you want and need from the relationship and if you cannot get it—walk away.

The most successful partnership that Zest is in took over a year to develop before all parties were ready to 'sign on the dotted line' so be wary of any rush to get you to work in collaboration. As a minimum, you would need to have done some work around shared values, conflict resolution and common purpose. And it has to be ongoing. We have a biannual staff get together and senior managers and CEO meet regularly to identify and work through issues.

A framework for the collaboration with agreed steps and inputs is always really helpful—as is honesty in what each party can bring to any collaboration. If it looks or feels like one party isn't sharing the weight in an expected way, then always have an early conversation to try to understand what the difficulties or barrier towards delivery are. It may be that these can be resolved or mitigated through pooling expertise or resources. If it's not resolvable and the impact on your collaboration is serious, then you may need to consider pausing or ending it. 

Collaborations can take up a lot of time and can be especially challenging for small charities. Ask yourself: What do we want to achieve? What can we do on our own? What can be better done in a partnership? Then it's a case of looking at capacity and weighing up if/how much resources you allocate to a collaboration. 

Draw up a Partnership Development Project Plan that maps any risks and benefits, resources required and indicators/milestones for if you are on/off track. This project management approach gives a level of focus and clarity at the early stages that accelerate success or means that you ‘fail faster’ with less fall out of it.

The two biggest threats to a merger and/or collaboration are dissonance in the values base and poor due diligence which means you aren't necessarily getting what you signed up for—consider these two risks when entering a partnership.

"Some of the red flags [of any partnership] are a lack of a clear motivating purpose to collaborate on all sides, lack of willingness to have open and transparent conversations including about 'where might this go wrong', power imbalances that are not explicitly addressed and not enough resource committed to the process of collaboration. Make sure you always keep an eye out and address any red flags which could cause a further problem."

One of the biggest fears when it comes to collaborations (especially when a smaller charity is collaborating with a larger partner) is losing one's authentic voice and brand identity. There are two routes to consider depending on your objectives:

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