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Strong planning helps your organisation stay resilient and ready for the future, using both your numbers and your stories to set direction and build long-term sustainability.
Working with others has never been more important for small voluntary groups and organisations.
Whether you’re delivering community activities, supporting vulnerable people, or advocating for change, working alongside others can help you all to achieve a greater impact than working alone.
Sometimes small community organisations and groups feel like the “junior partner”. But that’s not true, you have something very special. You have:
These strengths make you an important and equal partner.
Below are five top tips for small voluntary and community sector groups and organisations to guide partnership working, and help your organisation show up with confidence and contribute meaningfully.
Good partnership working begins with curiosity. Before jumping into joint activity, take the time to really understand what matters to your partners. Ask yourself:
Understanding their goals doesn’t mean you have to adopt them wholesale. Instead, it helps you see why they operate the way they do. For example, a local authority might have rigid national reporting requirements, while a small grassroots community group may prioritise informal, relationship‑based work. When we understand each other’s pressures and purpose, it becomes easier to find common ground.
Small voluntary organisations and community groups often underestimate how valuable their unique insight is. You have a close connection with local people and a clarity about what support really looks like on the ground. When you understand your partner’s position, you can better articulate how your strengths can help them meet their aims and why they should listen to your perspective.
Once you’ve identified each other's objectives and priorities, a helpful exercise is to compare what each partner wants to achieve and then highlight the overlaps.
When you see what you share, it becomes easier to plan your work together. You may discover, for example, that you share a desire to reduce isolation in a particular neighbourhood or that both organisations want to increase participation of young people in your community. In this way you can identify how you are all working toward improving local outcomes. It also reminds everyone that your aims are just as important as anyone else’s.
Partnerships work best when everyone can clearly articulate what they can share. This could be a commitment to reaching specific groups or addressing a common social issue. Mapping out these shared goals early can help prevent confusion later.
This process can not only strengthen the direction of the partnership but also instils confidence in each organisation’s contribution. As a small community group or organisations your aims are just as valuable as those of larger partners. By identifying your own and shared objectives you reinforce the idea that everyone has an equal stake.
Trust is the heart of any good partnership. Without trust, plans fall apart. Trust is built over time, through consistency, honesty, and openness. For smaller organisations and community groups, this often means demonstrating what you already excel at.
Some ways to build trust include:
Small organisations and community groups often form stronger partnerships because they bring authenticity and a deep understanding of local lived experiences. Don’t underestimate your strengths; they are often the glue that can hold partnerships together.
Clear roles and communication prevent duplication or feelings of imbalance. At the outset, partners should discuss:
For small community groups and organisations, this clarity can be empowering. When your role is well defined, it becomes easier to show off your expertise with confidence. Regular communication keeps everyone on track and builds accountability.
If you feel overshadowed or unclear, speak up. Your contributions matter and voicing your needs helps to create a healthier and more equitable working relationship.
One of the greatest strengths that small voluntary groups and organisations bring is flexibility. You can often adapt and respond faster and innovate more creatively than larger organisations bound by bureaucracy. This adaptability is a massive asset in partnership working.
This flexibility works best when it is paired with confidence. Alongside being adaptable, make sure to share your:
Similarly, invite partners to share their expertise too. When everyone contributes to a shared pool of knowledge, partnerships naturally become more balanced and more collaborative.
Remember: your insight isn’t just valuable… it’s essential! Small community groups and organisations have powerful strengths.
Remember: your flexibility, community trust, and ability to develop authentic relationships are vital to the success of any collaboration.
Remember: your lived‑experience knowledge and community connections are often the reason larger partners want to work with you in the first place.
Remember: your organisation has enormous value. Bring it to the partnership table with pride!
Good partnership working is:
Partnership working is NOT:
If you are still a bit lost or not sure how to get started, why not ask our chatbot.
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