The Collaboration Challenge: How Nonprofits and Businesses Succeed through Strategic Alliances (Frances Hesselbein Leadership Forum) - Hardcover

"Austin has uncovered the common elements and key strategies that make for effective collaborations.... He gained unprecedented access to the decision makers who instituted and managed these alliances and who provide firsthand accounts of their successes, trials, and lessons learned.... In The Collaboration Challenge, he illuminates these key lessons for all leaders, and makes it possible for each of us to meet the collaboration challenge."
--Frances Hesselbein, chairman of the board of governors, The Drucker Foundation, and John C. Whitehead, founder, The John C. Whitehead Fund for Not-for-Profit Management, Harvard Business School

"Austin has performed a valuable service for nonprofit organizations and their corporate partners by illuminating the dynamics of successful relationships. His useful book deserves to be widely read by leaders in both sectors concerned about increasing the effectiveness of their social action agenda."
--Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School, author of World Class and Rosabeth Moss Kanter on the Frontiers of Management

"The entire nonprofit sector has been searching for the expertise and tools this book provides. Nothing else like it exists."
--Bill Shore, executive director of Share-Our-Strength and author of The Cathedral Within and Revolution of the Heart

"It's hard to imagine managers crafting a leading partnership and not applying all this book has to offer. It does a fantastic job in offering leaders crisp principles to be applied in navigating the landscape of collaborations."
--Ken Freitas, vice president of social enterprise, Timberland Company

"Superbly provides a framework of order and understanding. I wish I had had this book to share with staff and board members during my tenure at Outward Bound. It will accelerate the coming together of the sectors."
--Allen Grossman, Bloomberg Senior Lecturer in Philanthropy, Harvard University, and former CEO of Outward Bound

"The book provides wonderful case studies, strong insights, and solid frameworks that I plan to use in my own nonprofit course next year."
--Marc Lindenberg, dean and professor, Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington, and former senior vice president of CARE

"A very timely book of landmark collaborations between nonprofits and businesses set within conceptual frameworks that provide both academics and practitioners guidance on how to make alliances better."
--Alan R. Andreasen, professor of marketing, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University, and author of Marketing Social Change

Presented by The Drucker Foundation

In these complex times, when no organization can succeed on its own, nonprofits and businesses are embracing collaboration for mutual benefits. Nonprofits are partnering with businesses to further their missions, develop resources, strengthen programs, and thrive in today's competitive world. Companies are discovering that alliances with nonprofits generate significant rewards: increasing customer preference, improving employee recruitment and morale, promoting brand identity, strengthening corporate culture, building good will, and testing innovations.

In this timely and insightful book, James E. Austin demonstrates how to establish and manage strategic alliances that are effective and mutually beneficial. He provides a practical framework for understanding how traditional philanthropic relationships can be transformed into powerful strategic alliances. Insights and lessons are drawn from the experiences of over fifteen collaborations, including Timberland and City Year; Starbucks and CARE; Georgia-Pacific and The Nature Conservancy; MCI WorldCom and The National Geographic Society; Reebok and Amnesty International; and Hewlett-Packard and the National Science Resources Center.

Austin reveals the traits and keys for success these distinctive alliances hold in common. From his analysis, nonprofit and business leaders will learn how to:

• Find and connect with high-potential partners
• Ensure strategic fit with a partner's mission and values
• Generate greater value for each partner and society
• Manage the partnering relationship effectively

Perceptive, powerful, and practical, The Collaboration Challenge offers valuable insights on the process of creating and sustaining successful strategic partnerships between nonprofits and businesses.