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Aid agencies team up

The key for charitable organizations hoping to achieve their goals more quickly and efficiently? Collaboration.

JUNE 2003 • Matt Brittin and Peter Haden

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) with similar aims hope to collaborate more extensively, since by working together these groups might enhance their impact—for example, by speaking up for a common cause or raising funds more effectively. But NGO partners often try to collaborate across a range of tasks and geographies that their democratic governance structures can’t handle. They might do better to focus their joint efforts on tasks that could have the biggest impact on their shared goals. NGOs can pinpoint these critical tasks by completing a matrix such as the one below. The potential partners’ core tasks appear on its left side; the possible means of collaborating on the top. (Both sets differ by type of NGO; the examples in this matrix pertain to international-development agencies.) Using both qualitative and quantitative techniques, NGOs can analyze the potential benefits of collaborating on each task by each means. Only the high-potential areas are serious candidates for cooperation; the rest should be left alone.

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About the Authors

Matt Brittin is an associate principal and Peter Haden is a consultant in McKinsey’s London office.

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