"Collaboration" has become one of the most diluted words in the nonprofit sector. Funders push for it, grant applications require it, and yet most partnerships are coordination at best, administrative burden at worst.

Dr. Priyanka Brunese and Pallavi Gupta of Saath Partners have spent years researching why some cross-sector partnerships create genuine value while others stall out. In this episode, they break down the spectrum from cooperation to true partnership, explain why most nonprofit collaborations get stuck in transactional mode, and introduce the concept of collaborative advantage.

We dig into real examples, including how one homeless shelter built a network of shared-value partnerships that expanded services without expanding budgets. We also get honest about what goes wrong: operational misalignment, power dynamics, and partnership fatigue.

If collaboration has felt like more trouble than it's worth, this episode offers a different path forward.