Partnerships For Plants: Proceedings of CBCN's 1996 Workshop

Latest update: 7 December, 1998

9: Principles of Partnership

Workshop Leader: Fred Prescod, Horticulturalist and Educator, Hamilton, Ontario
(outline by David Galbraith)

Workshop Outline:

Forming partnerships is an essential element of future success for not-for-profit organizations. Increasingly, "charitable" organizations are being forced to do more that has traditionally been viewed as commercial - such as funding through pay-for-services provided. In addition, forward-looking "commercial" organizations are now entering into areas which have traditionally been the realm of the charitable organization, providing increased "value" to customers by adding educational or other social goods to their products.

In partnerships, it is necessary to develop open and honest approaches to questions that may seem confidential in other circumstances. Elements of competition that might be seen to be the norm in the commercial world need to be re-thought to provide the difficult but more successful win-win solutions we all need.

In this session, we will look at what makes for partnerships that achieve more than individual partners could on their own, and seek the principles of interdependence and cooperation that can make the whole add up to more than the sum of the parts.

Focus Questions:

What are the characteristics of a good partnership, and what are the characteristics of a bad one?

What kinds of projects that CBCN could undertake, or that are part of the activities of botanical gardens, that would be enhanced by partnerships with outside organizations?

What forms of partnership are most suited to the botanical gardens community, and are there limits imposed by the legal requirements of charitable status?

How can partners assess their mutual needs and areas of concern or even conflict? How should partnerships be evaluated for their success?

Focus Group Results:

 

GOOD PARTNERSHIPS: 

direct communication 
mutual benefits 
shared objective 
mutual willingness to give up some power/control 
synergistic relationship: 
            must afford care 
            feeling of good faith 
TRUST 
belief in partnership 
need clear definitions of: 
            financial agreements 
            organization 
good communication 
good organization (rides etc.) 
strong agreement among partners

       BAD PARTNERSHIPS: 
based on ill-defined problems 

refusal to give up power/control 

CAUTION: in-kind contributions as a substitution for funding can reflect underlying lack of commitment 

failure to fulfill obligation on both sides 

failure to make resources available 

bad partnerships can curtail freedom (subtle)

Partnerships need definitions of:

  • What kind of projects could we undertake?

  • What forms of partnership are most suited to the botanical gardens community?
  • How can partners assess their mutual needs and areas of concern or conflict?

IDEAS FOR CBCN'S ROLE

  • needs to be sensitive to commitment of individual members

  • umbrella/broker of projects
  • facilitate exchange of information
  • clear ethical guidelines re: types of partners; relate to vision/role of CBCN
  • protocols/education material
  • collecting native plants
  • work with broad community interests
  • fundraising
  • marketing and legal firms' partner/corporate sector for advisory board (e.g. lobbying/advocacy)

IDEAS FOR GARDENS

  • monitoring of ecosystems

  • pair with marketing firms, media etc.
  • education - school boards/schools/province
  • restoration
  • collecting native plants
  • check mandates for mutual goals
  • smaller partnerships might be beneficial
  • volunteer legal advice

 

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