Power imbalances can show up in incredibly nuanced ways.

It happens in seemingly casual moments, like when a local leader feels pressured to help a funder “shop for souvenirs” after a site visit, taking valuable time away from their work and community. Or when an executive director spends weeks on meticulous financial reports requested by a funder who simply won’t read them. Or when a funder asks if their niece can volunteer, despite the fact that the nonprofit doesn’t have a volunteer's program for foreigners.

Power imbalances can also lead to pretty huge missteps.

Travis Ning, Co-Executive Director at MAIA and the creator of the Awareness Accord, shares the story of working in East Timor, where war had destroyed a village school, and kids had to wander into a nearby cornfield to relieve themselves.

When a funder wanted to donate a shiny new flush-toilet bathroom, the power dynamics between the villagers and grantmaker prevented an honest conversation about the true needs of the community. The bathrooms were built — even though there was no running water. After thousands of dollars spent, the children at the school were still using a cornfield.

How to set up an equal, honest partnership

Letters of agreement are really the result of a larger conversation — where you and a local nonprofit sit down together to figure out what your relationship should look like. It can be as simple as a series of bullet points or as thought-out as... well, anything you and a partner want to dream up. We’ll walk you through some ideas to facilitate that conversation, and point you to a few templates and resources that might further guide your kickoff.

Your letter of agreement is a reciprocal document.

First and foremost, it’s a place to come together and make sure you and a local nonprofit are on the same page. You are outlining agreements together, based on your shared values and giving all voices the same equity and weight.

So what exactly are these agreements? Rather than just focusing on financials, a letter of agreement can be a holistic view of your relationship and interactions. Together, you will answer questions like: How often do we communicate? How will funders offer feedback? What can be published for public consumption? When will the relationship come to a close? Your answers become a document you can return to when things get complicated and you need to make strategic decisions. Since power dynamics show up throughout any engagement, these agreements aren’t just for the beginning of a relationship — they’ll be your guiding compass for every step along the way.

Find a framework that works for you and your partner.

Each partnership is different, so each letter of agreement will look different — and how you develop them will be unique too. Let’s take a closer look at one tool to help you formulate agreements together.

Travis Ning’s Awareness Accord is a great framework for individual funders and local organizations to have productive, meaningful conversations around agreements. It lays out three key concepts to explore through every step of your partnership, and models how to transform those bigger ideas into concrete agreements.

Two other important takeaways from The Awareness Accord’s format: 1) be really specific to address the needs of everyone at the table and 2) use “I” statements and active verbs to ground your commitments. Whether you use The Awareness Accord or another structure to guide your conversation, agreements like these can become the foundation for a document that formalizes the beginning of your partnerships.