Advancing Collaboration with Embrace Relief

About the Organization

Embrace Relief believes in delivering research-based, sustainable solutions to achieve lasting improvements for individuals and communities. We are committed to creating a lasting impact in the lives of individuals locally and globally. We implement research-based programs to achieve measurable, sustainable improvements in the lives of those in need. By constantly using research and closely engaging with those we serve, our innovative approach ensures we deliver the most beneficial services.

Featured Guest
Osman Dulgeroglu CEO
Embrace Relief

Approach to Collaboration

Embrace Relief’s general approach to collaboration with other organizations is to ensure that their core principles and values align with ours — humanity, inclusiveness, independence, impartiality, voluntary service, accountability, sustainability, transparency, innovation, and partnership.

Build Trust

At Embrace Relief, we believe that a solid foundation of trust with our partner organization starts with honest and open communication. We have partners in over 45 countries where we have funded and implemented programs such as food distribution, refugee relief, building water wells, curing cataracts, and more.

Embrace Relief ensures that our partner organizations have received the funds necessary to implement the program on time, and we expect to receive impact reports after the program is completed. If the organization does not follow the standard reporting guidelines, we terminate our collaboration with them.

93% of our current funding comes from passionate and dedicated individual donors. In return, we provide our donors with updates and quarterly and annual activity reports for major programs.

Embrace Relief believes in the importance of laying out a long-term vision to inform our collaboration decisions. We have five-year strategic plans for all of our major programs. We believe that having a long-term vision/strategic plan is important for the overall integrity of our programs, program sustainability, and trust with partner organizations.

We ensure harmony between our vision and our partner’s vision by addressing it early in the relationship to solve any discrepancies and come to a mutual agreement of expectations.

Every organization has a responsibility to its stakeholders, and we share reports to show that we are using the funds effectively. Therefore, when we collaborate with other organizations, we use their name, logo, and involvement in our reports to showcase our partnerships. When it comes to ensuring that all parties are satisfied with the outcome, we believe that consistently open and honest communication is vital.

We often take stock of our organizational strengths and weaknesses to better improve our results. We believe that through partnership and collaboration, we can refine our programs to increase our desired results. We conduct yearly program evaluations to highlight strengths and take the necessary steps to improve our weaknesses.

We believe that it is best to begin collaboration with smaller short-term projects as opposed to bigger projects to build trust and confidence. Starting with a high-stakes, large collaboration leaves a lot of room for error. The two organizations should be in sync when it comes to communicating, organizing, implementing, reporting, etc. This can be extremely difficult due to a lack of trust if the two organizations have not collaborated in the past.

In the beginning, identifying the goals and responsibilities among the key staff is vital for both parties in a collaboration. This will ensure there are no discrepancies, confusion, or delay. At the beginning of every project, timetables, reporting, and feedback loops should be identified; every staff member should be aware of their reporting responsibilities.

Take a Portfolio Approach

We take a portfolio approach when identifying our potential collaborators. We gather information on the organization, its program’s successes, their area of expertise, etc. We review all of the cases to compare and contrast information and see which organization would be ideal to collaborate with.

Embrace Relief collaborates with non-traditional partners. We have an ongoing partnership with an exercise mobile application called SweatCoin that converts your steps into digital currency, and you can buy goods, services, or donate to one of their crowdfunding campaigns. Embrace Relief features a different program every month on SweatCoin's crowdfunding platform on their app.

We also have an ongoing partnership with the Bulgarian Charity Association, Margarity, to open clean water wells in Nigeria, Chad, and Cameroon. We've constructed seven water wells so far.

Furthermore, we have a strong connection with the Bulgarian community in Windgap, Pennsylvania, who have collaborated with us to fundraise for and build 27 water wells in Africa.

Keep Your Donors Apprised of Your Collaborations

We communicate with our donors to inform them about new partnerships and collaborative projects through email, social media, our website, and the reports we produce. It is important to us to keep our donors informed and involved in the conversation of our programs they support. This fosters trust, transparency, and loyalty between the donor and the organization.

Future Collaborations

An ideal collaboration would be with an organization whose mission, vision, core principles, and goals align with ours. Our relationship would have efficiency, trust, empathy, positivity, communication, clarity, and accountability. Moreover, we find that the style in which program reporting is done to be extremely important, which is why we value high quality reporting skills in potential partners.

Conclusion

Over the years, I have found the importance and value of establishing and maintaining positive relationships with partners and collaborators. Through collaboration and partnership, a greater impact can be achieved while decreasing the workload because responsibilities are delegated across a larger team. New relationships can be made through partnerships which can open the doors to more funding, program expansion, networking, and more.

This article was composed by Rachel Romana Liu.

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