To measure partnership success, set clear goals, track outcomes with data, and maintain open communication. Regular feedback and celebrating milestones keep the collaboration strong.

Consider conducting an audit of sorts on community partners actual effectiveness and impact, within the context of the degree of the issue or problem being addressed within its target populations and geographic service area. A community organization may be lauded for their work, but, may not be living up its mission and purpose. If your organization partners or collaborates with such an entity, you inadvertently provide legitimacy to such an organization and thereby perpetuate the prominence or prestige of the organization and contribute to the overall issue's or problem's persistence.

Start by checking for alignment linked to the specific outcomes you want to accomplish and each partner’s unique capacity to support those outcomes. The next step is to gain clarity regarding what should be measured and how it will be measured. You’ll also need to identify when it will be done, who will be responsible and what the preparation and planning process will look like. Identifying these details will help ensure you start the measuring process with the right people, tools and strategies.

Measuring partnership success is a process and it starts from the very beginning in exploring goals, discussing clear expectations,checking in regularly, developing some type of outcome measure to obtain analytics and being open for feedback. Communication is the key here. If we can establish a clear line of communication, when challenges arise we can work together to see it through. Partnership success is not just about the end result but also everything in between and hoping that the process runs smoothly through a collaborative effort.

I would have a round table and ask that the local organization come. To spend 1 hour in a group-with a few questions-we are moving forward to to fix. These might be problems I find that are hindering our growth--then thank them all for their contributions and use the examples given for a change. Then meet again to discuss the outcomes and best fixes.

Partnerships with local organizations means you get access to the wisdom of local communities. I would want to dialogue with these partners to better tap into what they see as important and meaningful data to track. This may be different from what I came in with. That is, I would want our conversations to improve on my own thinking and to do measurements that are truly significant.

What do we consider success in the first instance. Also, how do we define partnership? If your organisation is larger, and there is a financial component, is it a partnership or contractual agreement? Then, when it comes to measuring success - outcome, performance and alignment mean nothing. If it's a true local organisation, all of that is cosplay. Partnership is about trust. That is measured by how your reputation or mana is enhanced or decreased as a result of your actions during the partnership. What are other community groups and leaders hearing about your organisation and what are they saying as a result? Will they work with you again? Communities have long memories and how you treated them will create a core version.

Measuring the success of partnerships goes beyond outputs—it’s about understanding the actual outcomes and impact. I’d like to add that developing a “theory of change” for each partnership can be incredibly effective. This involves outlining the short-term and long-term changes you aim to achieve and then backtracking to determine the specific steps and resources needed to get there. Eg. at Kingswood School, we partnered with a local charity to raise awareness and funds while empowering students through leadership development. The Dragon's Den-style format was successful because we set clear, measurable objectives and evaluated against them. Curious to hear if others have used impact-focused frameworks like the theory of change?