Leveraging Partnerships

Living Cities, a network of major foundations and financial institutions aiming to reengineer America’s cities, asked Marga to assess multi-stakeholder partnerships in cities and regions. Consistent with Marga’s philosophy, Living Cities recognizes that critical social issues require resources and thinking from multiple sources in order to be adequately addressed. Today’s complex environment calls for solutions that harness the combined power of government, the private sector, and civil society organizations.

While this may be true, the creation and sustenance of such multi-stakeholder, cross sector partnerships can be challenging and time consuming. Subsequently, Living Cities and Marga recognize the importance of finding the kinds of models, methods, and approaches that can galvanize multiple resources and parties efficiently and bring about improvements in a number of areas of social concern. Manifestations of such partnerships vary tremendously, spanning numerous industries and environments, taking on single or multiple issues, addressing immediate local and/or regional pursuits, and taking any variety of forms from incorporated organizations to loosely organized virtual conceptions.

Indeed, the idea of partnerships is hardly new, but contemporary conditions may require such efforts to evolve and adapt to an increasingly dynamic world. Partnerships addressed in this assessment are both old and new, transcending eight cities and regions across the United States. They address education, homelessness, and multiple other issues, and they can support service providers as well as alter public policy. Over its nine years, Marga has been catalyzing and supporting collaborative efforts that tap institutions of higher education, corporations, philanthropic resources, government, and civic associations. Partnerships in this assessment reflect this composition.

These sites, in Cincinnati, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Chicago, Camden, Miami, Los Angeles, the Bay Area, and Seattle are making contributions to our understanding of how to form and sustain partnerships that work. Representatives of these sites will be convened to share their ideas in the coming months. Marga’s final report will provide recommendations that will assist Living Cities in its future approach to such partnerships, and enhance broader notions and practices around working across sectors, solving urban and regional problems, tapping local assets, and maximizing philanthropic investments.

Marga continues to contribute to the thinking and practice of partnerships. For the fourth time, Maurrasse’s Columbia University Master’s level class, Cross Sector Partnerships, Philanthropy, and Community Building will be taught in the upcoming fall semester.