Formation of non-profit cross-sector collaboration

Cross-sector collaboration, involving non-profits, government and business, has surged over the past twenty-five years, because of the changes in the society. Non-profits role in these collaborations is expected to be major. Non-profits have a long history collaborating with the private sector, but for many collaborating with the private sector is a fairly recent phenomenon. The meaning of the study is to understand, how non-profit cross sector relationships are formed: what conditions and elements contribute to the formation of the relationships. The point of view is non-profits, because it is scarce in the literature. The main aim is to figure out, how forming the prior relationships with the public sector can help to form relationships with the private sector and how the formation differs: are there particular challenges and barriers relating to the formation of non-profit-business-relationships. In the theory, concepts cross sector collaboration, non-profit sector and non-profit are defined. The theoretical framework used is the process theory of alliance evolution. The research methodology is a one-case study. The case chosen is a non-profit organisation called Vaasan Setlementtiyhdistys, because of its extensive experience in cross sector collaborations. The interview method is thematic interview. Six employees participating in the decision-making were interviewed. The main results and conclusions were that there any mainly similarities when forming collaborations with public and private sector, so the prior formation of collaboration with the public sector can help the formation with the private sector in many different ways. The main similarities relate to elements such as convener, leadership, prior relationships, trust building, in general choosing the right participants for the collaboration, and lack of time to commit. Also, Settlement is expected to be active, flexible and understanding in both types of the relationships. There are anyhow differences between forming collaborations with the public and private sector. The main differences relate to elements such as agreeing on the initial goals and targets, forging initial agreements, conflicts and misunderstandings caused by cultural differences and prejudices and Settlement being unknown and its all-around activities.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format