Building Community Partnerships: Tips for Cultivating Meaningful Connections

Grant Glossary Terms:

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) – A cooperative agreement that formalizes a partnership; like a letter of commitment, it can show that a partner is more committed to a project than a letter of support.

Letter of Commitment – A letter from a project partner committing specific efforts or resources, such as money, to the project you are seeking funding for; must be signed by an authorized individual.

Letter of Support – A short letter, often submitted as part of a proposal, that indicates a stakeholder or program partner is recommending your program for funding

Partnerships are an important part of developing a competitive project and grant proposal, especially when resources are limited or when tackling complex issues and new initiatives. By developing relationships with other organizations doing similar or complementary work, you can ensure your project is making a larger impact without duplicating efforts.

Like you, many funding agencies are often looking to stretch their grant dollars as far and wide as they can, so incorporating partnerships into your proposal is a great opportunity to demonstrate your project’s ability to impact your community on a larger scale. Partnerships also help build capacity and expertise within a project, which instills additional confidence in the funding agency that your project will be executed effectively.

Enhance Outreach

Many partnerships happen organically by networking with others at industry events. To always be prepared for outreach, be sure to have business cards handy and polish up your “elevator speech,” a brief pitch about what your organization does and what your goals are.

Sometimes you may need to initiate outreach to meet and connect with potential partners. Outreach is communicating some information or intention to a potential partner, extending or reaching out beyond your usual limits. Be strategic about this initial outreach by keeping an eye out for other organizations with similar missions and goals, have an interest or involvement in your work, and provide the resources you need. Always be transparent about your intentions for any potential partnerships.

Engage Meaningfully

Once you’ve established the connection, the next step is continued engagement. Engagement is a strategic process with the specific purpose of working with identified groups of people, whether they are connected by geographic location, special interest, or affiliation, to identify and address issues or needs. Like any relationship, partnerships take time and consistency to develop. Invest in your partnership by scheduling regular check-ins to assess both of your needs and make adjustments accordingly.

As your partnership evolves, consider making it official with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to formalize the details of the involvement and contribution of your partner. Be sure to attach the MOU to your grant application and reference the partnership and the MOU within the written narrative. You can also attach Letters of Commitment or Letters of Support from partners to demonstrate your partnership with community organizations.

Collaborate Strategically with Subrecipients and Subawards

When partners receive some of the grant funding, they are considered a subrecipient or subaward. If your partner will be responsible for their own programmatic aspects of the project and will require grant funding to do so, identifying them as a subrecipient may be more appropriate. It’s important to note that this is different from contractors or subcontractors, which are hired entities that perform a specific task within the project, usually a service they provide to other organizations as well. If you’re unsure how to classify a partner in your proposal, please reach out to the WV Grant Resource Centers for assistance.

Need assistance initiating community partnerships to support your project? Submit a Technical Assistance Request through the Grant Centers’ website.