Working in Partnership to Get the Job Done and Improve the Quality of Life
By Amy Coates Madsen, Standards for Excellence Institute Director
Like many nonprofits throughout the state and nation, Pathfinders for Autism, a nonprofit based in Hunt Valley, MD, has experienced an increase in the number of partnerships with outside organizations in the last few years. Jennifer Hobbs, Fund Development Associate at Pathfinders for Autism, reports that with limited resources, Pathfinder’s partnerships help the agency “have a significant presence around the state.” In the recent past, due to their increasing propensity to partner with others and due to their keen interest in implementing the new benchmarks in the Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector, Pathfinders established a new and improved policy around strategic partnerships.
This policy helps the agency “identify, pursue, engage in, and evaluate strategic partnerships consistent with their vision and mission.” The policy outlines principles for cooperative and coordinated partnerships, describes its ideal for strategic partnerships, and provides goals and procedures for entering into new partnerships. Maryland Nonprofits is grateful to Pathfinders for allowing it to share this excellent policy with its members as part of the recently released Standards for Excellence educational resource packet on Strategic Partnerships.
Partnerships are key not only to Pathfinders for Autism, but to nonprofit organizations of all types and sizes. Maryland Nonprofits’ upcoming Quality of Life Summit on March 24th has an important focus on nonprofits work to innovate and collaborate to successfully address society’s biggest challenges. Successful partnership with other nonprofits, businesses, and government are an important focus of the Summit. To register for the Quality of Life Summit, click here.
For more information on how you can institute a new policy on strategic partnerships or simply improve your existing policy in this area, consider downloading a copy of the Strategic Partnerships educational resource packet through the Maryland Nonprofits online library.
Looking for more help in this area?
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- Access our educational resources in our online library
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- Learn more about our capacity building efforts for small and emerging nonprofits
- Access one of our consultants for in-depth assistance on this topic.
Join us for the Quality of Life Summit March 24th at the McDonogh School in Owings Mills, MD.
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