Presenting yourself as a partner
As your ideas and intentions become clearer, you will need to consider how best to present yourself to potential partners. It is good practice to document your ideas, for use both within the network and with potential partners. Most donors and increasingly the Soros foundations network will request some form of documentation as a partnership develops. Documentation is often useful when contacts with potential partners are at the working level, and they will need to seek support and approval from their own managers and boards.
The detail and completeness of documentation will vary depending on the stage of the idea, project, and partnership. In general, it is useful to write down what you know when you know it. The drive to document should not become an obstacle to moving forward with a partnership. Your documentation does not need to contain all the answers. It can include questions, issues, and risks for consideration and debate. Thus, there is no perfect blueprint. Rather, documentation is an aid to an ongoing process.
Your documentation might be a letter of interest, a letter inviting cooperation, a note on the need or issue, an analysis of the problem to be addressed, a sketchy project summary, a letter of appeal for partnerships, or a detailed project and partnership proposal.
In thinking through your documentation or organizing for a presentation, the information and questions to consider are:
In building a partnership, it is necessary to communicate not only your ideas but also your value and credibility as a partner. A potential partner may ask you to describe your organization's capacity in terms of expertise, staffing, management, financing, experience, and commitment. Sharing background information on the organization, its board members, and its previous activities and impact can increase credibility. Annual reports of the Soros foundations network and your national foundation should be readily available. You might prepare a simple impact statement or summary of work undertaken in the area of interest. Because of the Soros foundations' unique structure and way of working, it may be necessary to explain how funding decisions are made, how the network is organized and what is the philosophy of open society.
This information should be covered not only in documentation and presentations that you prepare - either on your own or with a partner - but also in presentations you receive from other donors when they initiate a partnership. The questions above may be used as a checklist for reviewing ideas or proposals. It is good practice to prepare documentation both in the local language and in English, so that local and international donor partners, as well as stakeholders, will have access to the information.
What is the essence of your initiative? The summary should be prepared last but presented at the beginning. Some of your audience will not digest any more than the summary.
Why are you undertaking this initiative? What need or problem is it addressing? How does it complement or supplement other initiatives in the area? What assumptions are you making? Background data and information can be included here.
What is the overall aim of the initiative? What are you trying to achieve specifically? Objectives and expected impact are best expressed in measurable outcomes.
What are the project activities and components? What will be delivered? If the initiative will be limited to certain geographical areas or participants, how will these be selected?
How will implementation be organized? Who will be responsible for what? What is the time frame? What is the governance and accountability structure?
What are the costs of the overall initiative? Of these costs, who will pay for what? Are there any in-kind contributions? Specify start-up capital costs and operating costs. Which costs are already covered with committed funds? Which costs still need funding? What structure of donor partnership is envisaged?
How will you review progress during implementation? How will you determine whether the objectives have been met? Are there targets or benchmarks at intervals during the initiative? What reviews or reporting will be required, by whom, to whom, and when?
What should be the life span of the initiative and of the involvement of the Soros foundations network? How will the impact of the initiative be sustained? What are you doing now to ensure sustainability? What resources and partners are required for sustainability, now and in the future?
As you enter the initiative, which questions or issues remain unresolved? What are the risks to project success? What can be done to address these issues or risks? This part of the presentation may include unanswered questions.
