On this page
- Introduction
- Benefits of working with other organisations
- Challenges of working with other organisations
- When and how to prepare for collaboration
- Ways organisations can work together
Introduction
When impacted by a disaster, not-for-profit organisations often collaborate with other organisations when limited resources, funding or tender requirements drive a need to pool resources and expertise or strategically align to access tax concessions.
Collaboration with other organisations is crucial throughout the entire disaster management process. Before a disaster occurs, organisations should identify potential partners, build relationships and develop agreements. During the response phase organisations can coordinate efforts, share resources, and leverage specialised skills. And during recovery, organisations collaborate on rebuilding and share insights to enhance future preparedness and response.
The ability to co-operate and collaborate effectively is a significant strength of the community sector, especially in times of crisis. However, the legal landscape is becoming increasingly complicated, so choosing and implementing an appropriate arrangement for your plans can be a challenging process.
There are many ways that organisations can work together during disasters, with different levels of formality, costs and risks involved.
For more information, see our guide to working with other organisations.
Benefits of working with other organisations
The benefits of working with other organisations during a disaster include:
- increased capacity for disaster response and recovery – collaborating with other organisations can share resources and leverage economies of scale to accomplish more with fewer resources
- reduced expenses – collaborating with other organisations can share administrative and operational expenses such as rent, overhead, training and transportation
- increased reach or broader service offering – working together enables organisations to extend their geographic reach and expand the scope of services they offer
- shared knowledge – having a wider pool of perspectives and expertise allows collaborating organisations to improve services, generate new ideas and accomplish more
- access to funding – collaborating with other organisations can provide access to certain funding that is unavailable to organisations operating alone
Challenges of working with other organisations
While there may be good reasons to work together with other organisations, it may not always be appropriate.
The risks and challenges of working with other organisations can include:
- misaligned objectives – organisations may have different priorities or approaches, leading to conflicts or inefficiencies
- disputes about resource allocation – disagreements can arise over how resources are allocated or distributed
- communication challenges – effective communication is crucial during disasters, but breakdowns can occur due to stress, language barriers, or technological limitations
- governance and decision-making – establishing clear governance structures and decision-making processes is crucial for effective collaboration
- legal and regulatory compliance –charitable laws and regulations can become more complex when working with other organisations. For example, sharing sensitive data and information between organisations requires compliance with data and privacy laws
- upfront costs – collaborating organisations may experience high upfront costs such as due diligence fees and legal fees for reviewing contracts
- technology integration – collaborating organisations might use different technology infrastructure, software platforms and data formats
- sustainability and exit strategy – organisations need to consider the sustainability of collaborating with other organisations beyond a disaster and develop appropriate exit strategies for disengagement
Before collaborating with another organisation, it is important to consider these potential risks and take steps to manage them effectively.
Ways to manage these challenges include:
- having a clear legal agreement between the organisations that not only protects your organisation's interests, but also outline roles, responsibilities, decision-making processes, and dispute resolution mechanisms
- establishing clear communication channels and protocols between the organisations to ensure effective information sharing and decision-making
- ensuring the collaborating organisations share similar values and goals to minimise conflicts and disagreements
- conducting regular evaluations of the collaboration to identify areas for improvement and address potential issues
- conducting a risk assessment to identify potential risks in the collaboration and developing strategies to mitigate them
- consulting with legal experts to work out how the organisations will work together
When and how to prepare for collaboration
If possible, organisations should consider how they can work with other organisations in advance of a disaster.
Planning ahead helps an organisation to select an appropriate collaborator, anticipate potential disasters and proactively prepare a collaborative response. By identifying potential collaborators and agreeing on roles and responsibilities in advance, organisations can respond more quickly and effectively when a disaster strikes.
Selecting a collaborator and agreeing on how your organisation will collaborate with them is time consuming, regardless of when you do this. Collaborating with others during a disaster also involves legal, financial, operational and reputational risk. By developing collaboration plans in advance, organisations can more effectively manage and mitigate these risks.
Managing this process will be more difficult while in the throes of disaster, (although sometimes this is necessary).
Organisations can collaborate with various entities during a disaster, including:
- community collaboration – collaborating with not-for-profit organisations in the same community
- cross-community collaboration – collaborating with not-for-profit organisations in a different community
- government collaboration – collaborating with a government organisation at the federal, state or local level
- business collaboration – collaborating with a for-profit organisation
Tip
When identifying an organisation to collaborate with, it is important to find an organisation whose expertise, resources and values align with your objectives.
Identifying an organisation that has complementary skills and strengths can bring a new dimension to your work and help achieve your mission.
Once your organisation has decided who to collaborate with, the next step is to figure out how you will work together. Different legal arrangements can be used by two or more organisations that want to formally work together.
Ways organisations can work together
Legal arrangements that two or more organisations that want to formally work together can use include:
- a memorandum of understanding
- auspicing
- subcontracting
- joint ventures
- amalgamation or merger
Note
Information about when these options may be appropriate during a disaster is set out below. Seek legal advice to determine which option is suitable for your organisation.
Disclaimer: These resources provide general information about legal issues that may arise for not-for-profit organisations in managing disasters. This information is a guide only and is not legal advice. If you or your organisation has a specific legal issue, you should seek legal advice before deciding what to do. See full disclaimer and copyright notice.
The content on this webpage was last updated in December 2024.
