How to improve government partnerships

Acting Victorian Premier Peter Ryan says that the Guiding Principles for Collaboration Between Government and Philanthropy resource supports the development of effective partnerships between not-for-profit (NFP) organisations and the Victorian Government.

“The guiding principles have been developed in consultation with key philanthropic organisations to promote stronger partnerships and better support for the NFP community sector.

“Some of the key areas highlighted in the document include the importance of setting specific goals for each collaboration, understanding the roles of participants, the importance of frank communication and the need to establish an evaluation framework,” says Ryan.

The resource provides tips for the entire spectrum of the collaboration process from project planning through to monitoring and evaluation.

Useful tips include:

• Highlighting shared organisational goals, values, directions and priorities
• Ensuring that expectations regarding goals and roles are clarified
• Developing a formalised statement of intent once principles, goals, outcomes, expectations, roles and responsibilities are agreed upon
• Addressing sustainability issues including development of a funding plan, where appropriate
• Allowing sufficient time to develop trust, mutual respect and agreed approaches
• Ensuring there is a commitment from senior and operational executives from both sides of the partnership
• Appointing someone to drive and co-ordinate governance, operational and communication activities
• Documenting the history, context and development of the partnership
• Ensuring there is an evaluation framework as well as adequate resources available to undertake the evaluation agreed upon.