Partner / Collaboration readiness
Do not let a deadline design the partnership.
Use this worksheet before a joint proposal to make collaboration readiness visible. A promising funding opportunity is not, by itself, a sufficient reason to form a partnership.
Test the partnership before the proposal depends on it.
Strong collaborations clarify purpose, roles, trust, operating realities, and what happens after the grant. Use the five lenses below to decide whether to pursue, resolve critical questions first, or pause.
Joint Proposal Readiness Worksheet
Strategic fit · Structure · Trust · Operations · After the grant
Strategic fit
Does the opportunity align with each organization’s mission, community commitments, strategy, and desired outcomes? Is the collaboration creating more value than either organization could create alone?
Structure and roles
Are lead applicant, decision rights, scopes of work, budget allocations, credit, accountability, and ownership of deliverables clear enough to write down?
Trust and communication
Is there sufficient confidence in one another’s reliability, transparency, responsiveness, and ability to address disagreement directly and constructively?
Operations and capacity
Can the organizations meet the practical requirements of delivery, financial management, data sharing, compliance, reporting, staffing, and partner coordination?
After the grant
Have the partners discussed sustainability, transition, ownership, communications, and what will happen if funding changes, ends, or does not materialize?
Make the decision explicit.
Pursue when the essential questions are sufficiently clear and commitments are realistic. Resolve first when the opportunity remains promising but a small number of material questions need direct attention. Pause when fit, trust, capacity, or structure is too weak for a responsible proposal.