Have you ever had a board member ask, “Why don’t we partner with (insert company name here) to accomplish this?” Associations are ideal partners for a wide range of entities, including businesses, government, educational institutions, technology startups, and other organizations.

These partnerships enable associations to enhance their impact across areas such as educational and professional development, product and service offerings, research and technology initiatives, and public sector engagement. For partnering organizations, associations provide access to diverse audiences, industry expertise, and collaborative opportunities that drive innovation, expand reach, and support shared goals.

Partnerships sound like an obvious solution for some of our most vexing problems. They offer access to finances, people, technology, data, and more that can help associations achieve their mission. However, creating and maintaining successful partnerships often presents multiple challenges for associations.

This fall, participants in ASAE’s Association Insights Center (AIC), in partnership with McKinley Advisors, explored the key challenges that associations face in building partnerships—challenges that can often be proactively addressed. Through the AIC research, we identified and codified a series of best practices to support associations as they embark on the partnership journey. With proper planning and management, these relationships can provide significant value to members and other stakeholders.

What Are Common Partnership Challenges?

Association CEOs reported that they frequently encounter the following obstacles to sustaining successful partnerships:

• Clarity and communication. Many partnerships struggle due to a lack of clarity in roles, responsibilities, and goals. Without clear written agreements and regular communication, misunderstandings can derail even promising partnerships. We've pulled together key questions to ask your board and team about partnerships—check them out.
  
  
• Resource management. Associations often face challenges with unequal distribution of work and limited staff time. This can strain internal resources and impact partnership effectiveness.
  
  
• Financial balance. Ensuring equitable revenue sharing and managing financial fluctuations requires intentional planning and ongoing monitoring.
  
  
• Member engagement. Low member interest or understanding of partnerships can limit their success and value. Additionally, determining when and how to involve association board members in vetting, forming, maintaining, and exiting partnerships can be a key to success.
  
  
• Organizational independence. Maintaining organizational autonomy while collaborating effectively requires careful balance and clear boundaries. Explicit communication about partnership limitations and deliberate management of public relations can help.

What Makes a Successful, Mutually Beneficial Partnership?

Respondents identified four key elements that signal promise:

1. A clear definition of shared purpose and vision, documentation of expectations and goals, and above all, a focus on member benefit.
   
   
2. A set of agreed-upon performance metrics, regular evaluation, and ongoing monitoring.
   
   
3. A well-defined financial structure that ensures that revenue gained is fairly and sustainably distributed, expectations are transparent, and the value proposition is clear.
   
   
4. An operational framework that ensures the partnership is executed as promised, appropriate resources are committed, and the ownership of responsibilities is well-defined to foster accountability.

What Are the Steps to Creating a Strong Partnership?

With the insights gained from survey research and building on AIC participant experiences, McKinley’s client experiences, and the business literature, four partnership phases were identified, each containing critical steps for building successful collaborations.

1. Planning Phase

• Conduct thorough vetting of potential partners
  
  
• Establish clear criteria for evaluation
  
  
• Define exit strategies upfront
  
  
• Involve appropriate stakeholders in decision making

2. Formation Phase

• Create detailed written agreements
  
  
• Establish governance frameworks
  
  
• Define communication protocols
  
  
• Set clear performance metrics

3. Management Phase

• Maintain regular communication
  
  
• Monitor performance consistently
  
  
• Address challenges proactively
  
  
• Ensure ongoing value delivery

4. Evolution/Exit Phase

• Align on strategic reasons for exit
  
  
• Develop clear and comprehensive communication with all audiences
  
  
• Ensure a professional approach to partnership transitions
  
  
• Conduct postmortem to identify learnings and impacts

Conclusion

The research emphasizes that successful partnerships don't happen by accident. They require careful planning, clear structure, ongoing management, and regular evaluation. Organizations that approach partnerships strategically and maintain strong governance practices are more likely to create sustainable, mutually beneficial relationships that provide value to all stakeholders.

Access “Building Successful Partnerships" on ASAE’s website for additional details that provide associations with guidance on how to create and sustain successful partnerships.