Welcome and thank you for signing on. Your new role is critical to the mission of Partners Worldwide. Without you nothing happens. Through you the sharing of gifts and talents can happen in ways that transform lives, all over the world.

 

Sound like a big job? It is. The good news is that we believe you are an able holder of this task and there are a lot of resources and tools at your disposal to make you a successful and transformational partner.

 

What makes Partners Worldwide great is the method of the mission. We are active participants in fighting poverty and creating jobs where they are desperately needed around the world. We share your conviction that good business skills are not just a means to a financial end, but also have merit as gifts themselves. Business skills, management expertise, technological resources, encouragement, and mentoring skills are God’s gifts to us for us to share.

 

 

A partnership is the relationship between you, the North American Affiliate and an International Affiliate overseas.

Several variations and developments of this model already exist and your relationship will certainly develop and evolve over time. However, it is important to understand the basics of a healthy partnership.

 

First, each partnership needs to have complete teams on both sides of the relationship. A complete team is made up of at least three people with a basic organization structure and a calling to work together to create jobs for the poor.

 

Second, after establishing the relationship through phone calls and eventually visits, your team and your international affiliate will get together to articulate your common vision for the partnership. This will be captured in the Annual Partnership Agreement. The APA is crucial to the partnership – there is more information on the agreement at the end of this page.

 

Third, as the partnership evolves, your team and your international affiliate may want to involve a partnership manager. This is an individual living in the same country as your international affiliate who is there to aid and support your partnership. The partnership manager is bilingual (if necessary) and ensures that the partnership is flourishing according to what was written in the Annual Partnership Agreement.

 

Finally, some partnerships begin to replicate themselves and new partnerships spring to life. This occurs once in a while and depends on the involvement of all parties involved. Partners Worldwide has the potential to grow exponentially because of this process, so we encourage you to keep your ears and eyes open for opportunities for new relationships!

 

 

Your team will be known at Partners Worldwide as the North American affiliate (NAA). We encourage you to pick a unique name for your team, simply as an expression of collective identity (e.g. NLG – Nehemiah Liberia Group). Your international partners will be known as the international business affiliate. Both teams have an affiliation to Partners Worldwide, which is why they are referred to as such.

 

Affiliate groups are formed to give international business people improved access to the resources and skills that your team members possess. This affiliate to affiliate relationship is facilitated and supported by Partners Worldwide. Throughout your relationship your team will walk along side your international partners in mentoring relationships. As a result of this partnership, existing businesses will be strengthened, new businesses will be started, and jobs will be created.

 

When the international business affiliate is flourishing, the surrounding community will benefit and grow. As relationships are formed, the community will follow and be transformed.

 

 

Your team and your international affiliate are made up of people who are interested in mentoring, business development, advocacy, and the transformation of lives. It is up to each affiliate to determine the minimum requirements for its membership.

Each team should include people with a variety of gifts. Leadership is essential. When good leadership is mixed with organization, financial, communication, and other skills, your team will be strong.

 

Your business partnership will be established when your team is matched up with an international group with similar interests. Once this partnership is established, you will meet with the international team leader to discuss resources, communications, responsibilities, and make commitments that each affiliate will agree to in their role in this partnership.

 

Provide materials and staff guidance for how to set up a Partners Worldwide affiliate
Provide orientation and training for affiliate leaders, guidance for running an affiliate, guidance on how to implement the Partners Worldwide vision in their communities, affiliates and countries
Provide monthly reports on program progress, including revenue and expenditures, so the affiliate is appraised, can react, and provide support as appropriate
Provide an annual report and financial statement for the project or business for purposes of evaluation and planning.
Provide financial and program audits for the partnerships, ensuring program and ministry integrity and excellence with the host country, US/Canadian governments, ECFA (Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability) and the CCCC (Canadian Council of Christian Charities)
For US affiliates, provide tax exemption charitable gift receipts for all revenues raised for the partnership. For Canadian affiliates, ensure that appropriate receipts are issued

The Dialogue
Communicate Partners Worldwide Vision, Mission, Values, Strategic Plan and Standards
Act as a facilitator between the field staff and project/business and the affiliate as requested and as necessary
Provide regular monthly communication to the affiliate members and the world-wide network of Partners Worldwide for mutual learning, networking, best practices, and business to business connections

Support
Offer cross-cultural training
Pray regularly for the affiliates, its members and partnerships
Provide monthly resources for members and affiliates so they can grow in faith, grow in ministry and grow in stewardship

 

Purpose and Plan
Develop an affiliate Mission, Vision, Values and annual goals and objectives
Communicate with the field, Partners Worldwide staff and business groups. Provide encouragement and support to the international affiliate.
Commit to annual visits to the site for program review, evaluation, learning and encouragement. Hosting a leader from the international affiliate for learning and mutual growth is additional option.
Report progress, best practices, successes and failures to Partners Worldwide corporate so they can be shared with others for mutual learning.
For IRS purposes keep track of the number of volunteer hours contributed by chapter members and send report to Partners Worldwide corporate on a quarterly basis.

Assemble a Team
Recruit members that make up the affiliate.
Identify the technical, program and business expertise required for the partnership.

Support the Work
Raise the financial funds necessary to support their partnership
Pray and intercede for the partnership. Take actions to promote the growth of all members spiritually, professionally and in stewardship.
Act as advocates for the partnership—counseling, encouraging, mentoring, guiding and promoting as necessary the host community and the home community.
Promote the vision of Partners Worldwide in their local businesses and church communities.
Ensure the protection of the vision, mission, values, strategies and standards of Partners Worldwide

 

Prepare, Plan, and Track Progress
Develop a Mission, Vision, and Values for the affiliate
Develop necessary administrative procedures for the affiliate, such as bylaws, savings and loan policies, and registration within the country, and identification of leadership.
Communicate regularly with their North American Affiliate partner, field staff, and Partners Worldwide staff.
Report progress, best practices, successes and failures to Partners Worldwide corporate so they can be shared with others for mutual learning.
For Partners Worldwide corporate purposes keep track of the number of volunteer hours contributed by chapter members and report to Partners Worldwide corporate on a quarterly basis.

 

The bulk of your initial planning will take place in your formulation of an annual partnership agreement in cooperation with your international partner. A more extensive explanation of the APA is offered at the end of this page.

 

 

Communication between your team and your international partners is essential for the partnership to function well and for your team to be a benefit. This applies to communication within your team, with the international affiliate, and with Partners Worldwide. It is important to establish a minimum of monthly communication.

It is also necessary to become familiar with the economic and cultural environment that your group is involved with. You will find resources on this website to help you with this and any further help you would like will be gladly offered by Partners Worldwide members in North America or the Partnership Manager living in the country where your international affiliate is located.

 

To build a relationship and understand your partnership, it is necessary to become familiar with the economic and cultural environment that your affiliate group is located in. While this website and our overseas partnership managers can offer you resources and help with this, the value of actually traveling to meet your international partners has led Partners to make it a requirement of the partnership. Therefore, one of the expectations of a partnership is that your team members visit your international partners on an annual basis. In addition there may be times when individuals from your international affiliate will visit with your team in North America to exchange information and learn specific skills.

 

Mentoring, enabling access to capital, and advocacy are the result of visits, communication, and new relationships. Mentoring takes place once your team has formed relationships and sought to understand the cultural and economic situation of the international team. Helping your international partner gain access to capital is another significant way your team can help in this mentoring process, with the understanding your affiliate members will have of loans and repayment. Once your team understands the financial needs of your partners, you will be able to help them figure out if access to capital is holding back their business, or whether conversely loans would not be a wise path for them. Finally, when you develop relationships with your international partners, you begin to experience the ups and downs of life with them. Advocacy on their behalf is a great way to push governments or large organizations to change policies that may negatively affect your partners. There are several resources and suggested sources of information on this website to help you achieve these goals.

 

 

After your first face to face meeting with your international affiliate leader, you will sit down and establish a set of goals and budgets for your partnership and a timeline to guide them. We call this set of goals, budgets, and timelines the Annual Partnership Agreement.

 

The annual partnership agreement strengthens your relationship by stating common goals regarding communication, trips, projects, timelines, budgets, and more. When your ideas and dreams come together and transfer into an agreement, the partnership will flourish and mentoring and access to capital will be strengthened.

The annual partnership agreement is crucial to your mentoring role. It is vital to your success to be on the same page. The overall enacting of your partnership involves yours and your international partner’s attempt to achieve the goals stated in your agreement. This should entail monitoring the international affiliate’s progress through the agreement goals and helping and advising them as how best to succeed in reaching them.

 

There are 3 sections to the Annual Partnership Agreement: an Action Plan, a Metric Plan, and a projected Budget:

 

In the Action Plan, you will be listing your desired Outcomes (goals), the Key Activities required to achieving the outcome, a statement of those responsible (“Activity Assigned To”) for these activities and a Timeline for their completion, and finally an estimate of the Inputs Needed (financial, staff, tools) to complete them. The more carefully and precisely you can state your goals and the steps needed to achieve them, the easier it will be to monitor the progress and maintain a relationship based on accountability.

 

The Metric Plan lists your initial status at the beginning of a year with regards to jobs and loans, but also forces you to make explicit indicators by which you will evaluate your success in achieving your goals from the Action Plan. This should help you by giving you a detailed rubric (even if only as a guideline) of how to track your progress through the goals and avoid the situation where you realize, halfway into the partnership, that you had miscommunicated with your international affiliate about what was meant by achieving your goals or perhaps were neither very sure to begin with.

 

Your Projected Budget lists concretely which funds and loan moneys are coming from where, and who is responsible for the various costs involved in the partnership. This should help you budget your own contributions and more easily plan ahead with your international partner.

 

We’re so glad you asked! The link below will take you to the template we have created, and that you will fill in, in the formation of your Annual Partnership Agreement.