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Collaboration

Most voluntary organisations will have experience of partnership working at a basic level: networking, information-sharing and referral, joint events; perhaps also through involvement in joint strategies or delivery plans or through co-location of front-line staff.

Some voluntary organisations may have gone a further step by engaging in:

  • pre-tendering consortia (joint quality standards etc established in anticipation of tendering opportunities which may or may not materialise)
  • delivery consortia (joint service delivery)

In the face of a funding crisis, organisations may need to consider deeper forms of collaboration. There are two main areas to consider:

  • shared inputs or resources
  • joint service delivery

Where both aspects of collaboration are being considered, it may make sense to consider full organisational merger.

Sharing resources may take the form of:

  • Sharing management or administration (transfer, secondment, contracting)
  • Sharing specialist functions (IT, HR, book-keeping, pay-roll etc)
  • Sharing premises
  • Sharing equipment and other resources

NB Staff-sharing may incur VAT liability. Check with your accountant.

Subject to the rules of any specific procurement exercise, joint service delivery may take the structural form of:

  • Lead contractor and sub-contractor(s) – where overall responsibility and control lie clearly with the lead contractor. This is the simplest option, and it may be particularly suitable for smaller organisations seeking ‘shelter’
  • Consortium with steering group – where strategic planning and scrutiny are shared, but there is still one partner acting as the body accountable to the commissioners and exercising ultimate control. (This has a different ‘feel’ to the previous option, but the objective difference is debatable)
  • Special purpose or special delivery vehicle – where a separate legal entity is created under joint ownership to deliver one or more services. The lack of a formal track record may be a disadvantage under procurement rules

For more detailed guidance see: