Managing Community Partnerships - Overview (redirected from Partnerships, Placements and Projects - Overview)

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Managing Community Partnerships

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Well-developed community partnerships are necessary for creating change within our local communities, nation, and even world. The Bonner Program rests on a commitment to meaningful, long-term service commitments to the partners and communities with which we work. These relationships are intended to be intentional and reciprocal. Each campus program develops a long-term approach, working with key partners year after year. This dedication to our partners promotes more significant change, resource development, and capacity building in our communities—as well as allows for personal and professional growth for each volunteer.

What you will get from this page

A clear way to think about levels of partnership (from 1-time projects to deep, multi-year partnerships)
Practical guidance for communicating expectations with community partners and students
Examples of capacity building projects that are appropriate for Bonner placements and teams

Levels of Community Partnerships

For the purposes of the Bonner Scholars Program, “community service” is defined as service provided to individuals or communities to meet social, educational, or environmental needs. This service may be provided directly or indirectly through a student-initiated project or a project sponsored by a non-profit or government agency.

Since the Bonner Program rests on a commitment to meaningful, long-term service relationship to the partners and communities with which we work, the following are different levels of partnerships. For each level, it is recommended that you include the annual completion of the Opportunity Forms and Accomplishment Forms.

Level 1: 1x Service Project Partnerships

Definition: A short-term or exploratory connection (often tied to a single event, course, or one-time project).

Few student volunteers (including Bonners)
Clear understanding of mission, programs, and structure
Discussion of the Bonner Developmental Model
Example: Day of service, winter term course

What success looks like: clear scope, clear supervision plan for the event/project, and a documented follow-up decision (repeat, deepen, or conclude).

Level 2: Regular Service Partnerships

Definition: A consistent placement relationship with an identified liaison and regular communication.

Clear partnership plan (ideally 1+ year commitment)
Agency working to develop a team (at least three students) with developmentally distinct positions (working towards more)
Clear liaison; regular communication; experimental faculty roles
Example: Direct service plus some capacity-building (CB) projects

What success looks like: regular check-ins, agreed student roles, and continuity across semesters.

Level 3: Project-based Partnerships

Definition: A partnership that intentionally combines direct service with defined capacity building projects and shared planning.

Engages students across teams with clear roles (direct service and capacity building)
Ongoing connection with at least one faculty member
Partners help train students; annual plan and evaluation
Example: Progress to capstone or CB projects guided by partners and staff/faculty

What success looks like: an annual plan, clear deliverables, and partner input on evaluation.

Level 4: Deep Partnerships

Definition: A multi-year, strategic relationship where partners function as co-educators and co-planners, often across multiple programs or initiatives.

Sustained engagement with teams/students
Long-range (multi-year)
Strategic plan (or collective impact focus)
Partners as co-educators (collaborative work with faculty)
Example: Ongoing projects through Bonner, courses, Consulting Corps

What success looks like: shared goals, documented strategy, ongoing evaluation, and sustained engagement beyond individual students.

Types of Community Partners

Because of the long-term nature of partnerships cultivated by the Bonner Program and campus centers, the schools, nonprofit and government partners can count on having a range of different supports including:

Regular student volunteers (or staff and faculty as well)
Program or site coordinators (who help train and manage volunteers)
Capacity Building projects (like writing curriculum, launching a program, raising money, or doing needed research)
Connections with faculty and coursework
Participation in public education or advocacy campaigns designed to raise awareness on an issue or mobilize people

The chart below captures how this work might also be conceived up in a developmental progression.

A partner for the Bonner Foundation could be not just one organization, but an organizational partnership. For any organization, working in a organizational partnership can be difficult, costly and take more time than working in isolation. There are many ways of working in a organizational partnership with others organizations:

One first stage can be to work in a cooperative approach, primarily on sharing information and expertise. In this stage of the relationship, participants are loosely connected so their contribution to the relationship is low.

The second stage is the coordinated approach, where the parties realized the need to work together to meet a set goal. Although involved in setting joint policies and programs, organizations still enjoy a high degree of freedom.

The collaborative approach is characterized by a strong and highly interdependent relationship, whereas we could say that the collective impact is the top-notch collaboration model.

Stage	What it looks like	What Bonners might do
Cooperative	Sharing information and expertise; organizations are loosely connected.	Support communication, create shared notes/resources, help with outreach.
Coordinated	Organizations work toward a goal together while maintaining high independence.	Support meeting logistics, track commitments, build shared calendars and tools.
Collaborative	Strong, interdependent relationship with shared work and joint planning.	Support joint project planning, shared evaluation tools, and communications.
Collective impact	High-alignment collaboration with shared measures, continuous communication, and mutually reinforcing activities.	Support shared measurement, data dashboards, and coordination infrastructure.

Although cross-sector participation is widely present in collaborations, it may not always be found in the first steps of this continuum. Cross-sector collaboration is a key factor in addressing complex problems as hunger, poverty or education. Being part of a cross sector organizational partnership will help Bonners have a wider vision of the causes that generate poverty and social injustice, while understanding the implication of different stakeholders (e.g. private sector, public agencies, non-profits, communities or schools).

Communication with Community Partners for Capacity Building Projects

Community Partners are gaining access to motivated, trained, students that serve ten hours per week for multiple years. It is important that as your campus forges partnerships with community organizations they understand that they also serve an important role as co-educators for your Bonner students. The developmental model, campus calendar, goal tracking, and accountability measures are all helpful components to communicate every time a student begins working at a site. By discussing the model and their needs with partners, you can identify potential capacity building projects that students (as well as faculty and staff) can undertake in their engagement. Below are some examples, organized by typical types of partners and projects.

1. Volunteer Management – Volunteer Tracking and Recruitment System

Partner type: Direct service provider (after‑school program)

Project: Design and implement a volunteer tracking and recruitment system.