The Intersector Toolkit was created by The Intersector Project, a nonprofit focused on encouraging collaboration among business, government, and the nonprofit sector.
The toolkit is a resource for local leaders who may be new to creating formal partnerships across sectors. The toolkit is not specific to a certain kind of project or collaboration, although many of the included case studies feature community or economic development projects.
The toolkit is broken down into four processes for creating and sustaining successful cross-sectoral collaborations:
Diagnosis: Determine if a cross-sectoral collaboration will help to solve a problem that a single sector could not solve alone.
Design: Create a joint plan for the collaboration that lays out roles and expectations.
Implementation: Work to enact the goals of the collaboration but also to keep all partners engaged by showing appreciation for the value of all sectors and setting clear, achievable short-term goals.
Assessment: Evaluate progress in an ongoing manner and tell the story of the collaboration.
In addition to discussion and case studies of the processes that build successful collaborations, the toolkit also raises a series of questions that leaders should ask themselves as they design their partnerships.
Finally, the toolkit includes links to numerous other resources about creating successful collaborations, and the Intersector Project website includes a resource library broken down by issue area, sector, partnership area, and more.
Header Photo: Michigan Municipal League