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Danielle Aubry and strategic alliances among nonprofits
By Nicole Zummach
May 26, 2008
CALGARY, AB // As a society, we're fans of partnering - life partners, jogging partners, business partners. But when it comes to partnerships in the nonprofit sector, the same cannot always be said. Competition for funding and other resources often pits organizations against one another, making them wary of working with other agencies. But Danielle Aubry has a different vision for the sector. She wants to see more organizations partnering to share resources and information they might not otherwise have access to, thereby strengthening everyone's capacity to achieve their mission.
Selected as a Muttart Fellow in 2006, Aubry examined partnerships and strategic alliances as potential solutions to the competitive environment in which charities operate. CharityVillage spoke with her about her research, the current challenges facing voluntary organizations, and the types of partnerships that can help alleviate competition in the sector.
CharityVillage: When you talk about potential solutions to the competitive environment, are your referring primarily to the competition for funding?

Danielle Aubry: That's obviously one of them, but I looked at competition for everything: board members; PR; staff resources; even funder attention, you name it. We really are competing for all of those things, we just don't talk about it.
I examined the competitive literature in this area, which is almost nil. The most current competitive literature that I found was by David LaPiana. He actually wrote a book about building a competitive strategy, which was quite interesting to me. It's very controversial. I never realized how much so until I started talking to people. People get very defensive about talking about competition in our sector, but it really is out there.
I also looked at the current environment that we live in nationally, and the different studies that have come out, such as the NSNVO. It is so valuable and it really is a snapshot of our sector and the challenges that are out there. I think the future is going to be really challenging for us [as a sector]. We're already starting to feel the resource pinch, and the continued growth in the sector of new charities...it's not stopping and it's leaving the resource level behind. So we have all this growth but the resources aren't growing at the same rate. We have to be realistic, but I think people do get caught in feeling like we have no control. Bob Wyatt, from the Muttart Foundation, actually talks about this - how in our sector we lay down and are victims; we don't take control. And I see that, actually, in some parts of the partnership work too.
CV: After your preliminary research was complete, where did it take you?

DA: I talked to people - some funders, some colleagues in the community that I knew had a progressive perspective on this. The biggest question I had for them was, how do we get people partnering? What is the magic formula to get people to realize what potential there is in partnership work, and also in terms of dealing with competition and being realistic about that. It was a puzzling question to everyone that I asked.
What I heard was that we need to do it, and I heard a lot of "I don't knows." One of the things people did say was that if we are going to do this we do need resources. I believe that funders are a really important aspect of doing partnership work. Part of the leverage needs to come from funders, but it needs to be done appropriately, ethically, with understanding, and in partnership - not with any agendas, not with them defining what needs to be done, but in a way that is going to be supportive to the organization. And they also have to take the same risk that the organizations are taking. Partnership work is extremely risking for organizations because you have no idea where it's going to go. You have no idea if it is going to be successful.
CV: Aside from the risk element, why do you think organizations are reticent to partner?

DA: People are so committed to whatever issue they are involved in. And we truly believe, when we are involved in our own organizations, that we need to exist and that what we provide is valuable. It's about feeling like you don't want to lose something. So people are afraid. At the board level, I think they are afraid of losing the identity and losing the service provision, and at the staff level it can be very threatening - am I going to lose my job? Those are very human elements that have to be considered in partnership work.
CV: Beyond the partnership work itself, how might a partnership impact an organization?

DA: The one thing we're not great at in this sector is really constructively looking at what we do well. And part of that is not our fault; part of it has been created by funding bodies in terms of their criteria, what they fund. The result of that being agencies pursuing money in a direction that they might not really think about in terms of how it meets their mission. So, I think that going through a partnership process and analyzing 'should we or shouldn't we?' also involves really looking at whether you should be delivering a particular program or service. Sometimes I believe that agencies need to say, "No, we aren't the best ones to be delivering this."
CV: What types of partnerships would you like organizations to consider?

DA: In Calgary, the [office] space issue is absolutely impossible, and that's also related to how we share other resources. The concept of having a few organizations in the same physical building sharing different types of resources - I'm a huge fan of that. And apparently in the States this is quite common. My vision is that there would be a number of resources you'd share, such as an HR person. It gives me an incredible amount of energy when I think about that potential. It makes us really look at our organizational structures, which have just sort of developed over the years in isolation.
CV: What is the key message from your work that you'd like all nonprofits to hear?

DA: Well, a key message from me would be that you can be a leader in this. Any of us can be leaders in this, and what that takes is to be creative. I understand the time constraints, but that doesn't mean we can't start to do this kind of work on the side, whether that means having conversations with your board, having conversations with funders, or doing a bit of reading. And work with people that are similar minded. Be a leader; the sector needs us to be leaders in this and think creatively.
Danielle Aubry founded Calgary Communities Against Sexual Abuse in 1994 and has served as its executive director since that time. For more information about the Muttart Fellowship program, visit: www.muttart.org/homefellows.htm.
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