Who are your unlikely collaborators?

A philanthropic client and I were brainstorming topics for an upcoming workshop her foundation is hosting for nonprofit leaders in their region. I asked what challenges they’re seeing when it comes to building and sustaining inter-organizational collaborations.

She shared an interesting insight: people struggle to see others as potential collaborators. She explained, “There seems to be this idea that collaboration has to happen between similar programs. That’s not always the case.”

She’s right. A narrow view of who qualifies as a potential collaborator leads to missed opportunities to create meaningful impact together.

She then shared a fantastic story that illustrates what’s possible when unlikely collaborators join forces…

In her town, when families enter the domestic violence shelter, they can’t bring their pets with them. This presents a heartbreaking barrier— families may hesitate to seek safety if it means leaving a beloved pet behind.

Through open conversations and creative problem-solving, a non-obvious collaboration emerged: the domestic violence shelter partnered with the humane society.

Now, when a family arrives at the shelter with a pet, the shelter contacts the humane society. The humane society then reaches out a pet foster parent who provides care for the pet for 30 days while the shelter helps stabilize the family.

The result? The family gets the support they need, and their pet remains safe.

This is a powerful example of what’s possible when we ask:

What’s the real challenge we need to solve?

Who in the community has experience and expertise that could help?

How might we work together?

Great collaborators don’t necessarily share the same or adjacent organizational missions. Instead, they work together to align what’s needed with what’s available in new and unexpected ways—bridging resources and needs, bridging expertise and learning gaps.

The keys to finding these unlikely collaborators include keeping your head and heart open to possibilities, thinking creatively, and asking “How might we…?”

(And, guess what we decided to focus on for the workshop?! I’ll be running an interactive networking session to surface opportunities for unlikely collaborations among attendees. I’m so stoked for this!)