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Remaining Aware of Community-Business Partnership Opportunities

Picture this - your community group or business has seen its community business partnership successfully achieve its aims for the community, while delivering benefits for yourself and your partner.

Amidst both partners enjoying the celebrations and congratulations they deserve, someone asks the question: "What should we do now?"

A very good question and one with all manner of answers. But one response which could best benefit all involved is to develop another community business partnership.

Now that you know a bit more about community business partnerships, you may well feel in an even better position to have another shot at one. In fact, you may have learnt some things first time around that could make your next community business partnership an even bigger success.

Getting Involved ... Again - The Reasons Why

More benefits for your business or community group:

Think about what your group or firm was able to draw from your previous successful community business partnership
  • For a business, maybe it was positive publicity, an increase in customers or a higher profile in the community.
  • For a community group it may have been the completion of projects, a new home or meeting place or a monetary boost.
Being involved in another partnership could deliver those benefits to your group again, as well as a number of others you may not have even thought about.

Further benefits to the community:

If your last community business partnership empowered, educated or improved the community in some way, then another could achieve more beneficial results in the area.

Learn from past experience:

A community business partnership, be it successful or unsuccessful, is a learning experience.
Your group or business should have reviewed its previous partnership and learned some lessons about what it did to make it a success. The Help Sheets Lessons Learnt - Business and Lessons Learnt - Community Group, available at the Community Business Partnership Brokerage Service section of the Our Community website, can provide a good start to this review.

Putting past experience to use:

If your group or business has the experience, why not put it to good use in another partnership?
  • Your experiences from your original partnership could make a future arrangement even better for all involved.
  • Alternatively, a new partnership could teach a whole new set of skills and abilities.  

Where to Start ... Again

Getting involved in another community business partnership is easy - particularly because your business or community group has already done the hard work in analysing what you can offer a partnership and who your ideal partner would be.

Your group or business should:

  • Keep its eyes and ears open to any partnership opportunities in the community. This can be done by:
    • Scanning the local media.
    • Speaking to staff or members.
    • Through your community group or business' contacts.
Talk to your previous community-business partner. Maybe the partner you just finished working with has another project or idea you could help with. Not only could this allow you to establish another community business partnership, but the groundwork between your two groups is already in place.
Add to that the positive feelings your first partnership success produced and you could do even better.