Getting started with partnerships

WIE Partnership Toolkit: Questions to ask at the start of your engagement partnership

Good partnerships start with good communication. Setting expectations of one another early can help avoid problems down the line.

The questions are organised in the tabbed list below - not all will be relevant to every situation so you can skip questions as works for your partnership. For some questions we've added some further information about where you can get help if you're not sure of the answer. We've also added links to relevant resources.

This is a working toolkit we will keep updating so please let us know if you think there are questions missing we should add.

Starting out

What is the purpose of this project? Is it the same for all partners?
Are you all clear on what each other's purpose is?
Who is setting the aims for the project? Do partners have equal power/ influence/ responsibility in setting these aims?
What is the scope of the project? What's included and what isn't? Is everyone clear on this?
What will the time span of the project be? Is it finite or open ended?
Why are you using a partnership approach for this project?
What do you each hope to get from the partnership? Is the project going to be equally beneficial, or at least sufficiently beneficial to all parties? Will this even out over time?
Have you invested (sufficient) time in building a trusting, open relationship with your collaborator?

Inclusion and Access

What mitigations have you put in place to counteract risks of bias, power imbalance or marginalisation in the partnership? If none, is there anything you need to think about implementing?
What assumptions have been made about how partners are accessing materials being discussed? Do they have access to the same software you do (for example Microsoft Teams/ Word/ Excel etc)? Have they got access to high speed internet for video calls etc.
Are all the digital and physical spaces you're using accessible to all partners?
The Institute has a statement on Inclusive Engagement - how will you make sure you're following these principles as you go through your project planning/ delivery/ evaluation phases?
Whose voices are being listened to in this project? How will you account for some people being louder than others?

More information

Inclusive Engagement Guidance Giving Partners Access to Warwick IT Resources

Did you know you can make community partners Honorary Associates of the University, providing them with a Warwick email address and the ability to use tools like Office 365, the library, and even the option to give them a staff card which would enable them to access office space/ the library etc. This is the same process we use to make someone an Honorary Professor etc. and guidance is available from HR on their webpages.

You should get in touch with WIE if you're thinking of using this approach as we can provide you a letter of support which will be required for this type of application.

Funding

How will your partnership and any projects coming out of it be funded?
Who will be responsible for securing that funding?
Who will be responsible for reporting back to the funder and when will that need to take place? Will there be interim reports or just a final report?
If there are multiple funders, what implications does this have for deliverable outcomes, timelines, and evaluation processes? Will the blend of funders work?
What kind of report will be needed by the funder? Do they need you to track hours spent on the project by each partner and if so, how will this be done? Do they need you to keep track of how many people you engage with and if so, how will this be done?
Who will hold the budget?
How will the people you’re working with, and any expenses, get paid? What are the timescales for this?

More information

Paying external partners using Warwick's finance systems

Depending on what kind of person, business, charity, group etc. you are working with there are different ways to pay them and different legislation that applies, as well as different processes to follow with finance. Identify early on if they are set up as:

Not set up for self employed work at all
Registered self employed
A sole trader
A limited company
A charity
Something else

Once you know this information speak to the finance contact in your department, or get in touch with the WIE Team for advice on next steps. We're working on producing a guide to give more information but there is a lot of variation depending on what you're paying for and what kind of financial set up they have.

In all cases, we highly recommend finding out this information early, and identifying how you would pay them for something before an activity takes place. Waiting until they send you an invoice for something afterwards is a bad idea as it will likely take a long time to get them set up on Warwick's systems (sometimes over a month) and then they will join the queue to have their invoice paid which can take up to 30 days. This can lead to delays in payment and for small business this can cause them huge problems negatively impacting your relationship.

Working together

Which people from each partner organisation will be involved in the project?
Who will be responsible for managing the work of those people on the project?
Who will be responsible for any risk assessments that need to be undertaken?
Does your collaboration necessitate any special insurances (e.g. public liability insurance) and if so, whose policy will cover this?
Does your partnership need any kind of ethical approval? If so, who will be responsible for this?
If you will be working with young people or vulnerable adults, who will be responsible for safeguarding for this project? Are they properly trained to do this?
If your partnership involves working with third parties, who will be responsible for recruiting them?
What are the preferred methods of communication for those working on the project (e.g. email, phone, WhatsApp, Teams, social media, etc.)?
How regularly will the partners meet and where will these meetings take place?
What will the process be if any of you are unhappy with how the partnership is progressing?

More information

Risk Assessment Advice

Risk assessment is important to avoiding causing anyone harm as part of your work. It also helps you to plan effectively.

For brief advice on risk assessments (suitable for those who have some experience of doing a risk assessment but would like a refresher) have a look at the WIE Risk Assessment Toolkit. This includes a template form to use.

If you have never done a risk assessment before, or don't feel confident in what you're doing please consider doing the Health and Safety Risk Assessment Moodle. It takes 30 minutes to 1 hour and covers in depth the process of risk assessment.

WIE Risk Assessment Toolkit Health and Safety Risk Assessment Moodle

University Public Liability Insurance

Public Liability Insurance is often required if you're working with the public or in a public space. You can find evidence of the University's Public Liability Insurance policy on Finance's website, along with a contact for that team who can answer any questions you have about insurance.

Warwick's insurance covers staff working with the public, however their policy does not cover unsupervised students so please keep this in mind if your a student organising activity with the public. You may be covered under a different policy, such as your partners, or the venue you're using - contact them to find out if you're not sure.

Public and products liability insurance

Safeguarding

Safeguarding is important whenever we have a duty of care to young people or vulnerable adults. There is advice about things you need to think about on the University Safeguarding Policy, as well as several links to related policies.

Don't forget safeguarding applies both to in person and online activity.

Safeguarding policy

Public engagement on social media

What will come out of your project?

If you are making something, who will retain Intellectual Property/copyright of what you make? Do you need to create some kind of contract for this?
If you are gathering data, who will control that data and where and how will it be stored? Will both partners have easy access to that data?
If the partnership will be written about at a future date, or be discussed in presentations, will there be an opportunity for all partners to feed into these outputs?

More information

Legal and compliance services

If you're thinking about creating contracts for working together, intellectual property rights, Non disclosure agreements etc. there is advice available from legal and compliance services/ R&IS (if you're partnering on research). It can take a while to get advice from our legal team so contact them as soon as you start thinking you might need their input in future.

Legal and compliance services

Publicising your partnership

Who will be responsible for capturing images/footage of the partnership (if relevant)? If a third party is needed to do this, who will pay/appoint them?
Who will be responsible for publicising the outcomes of your partnership?
How will they be publicised?
Are both partners happy to take part in press/media interviews about the project?
What will the web presence of the partnership be? Will each partner use their own website to publicise the project, or does it need a separate/third party website?

Evaluation

How will the success of the project be evaluated?
What will each partner’s responsibilities be re: evaluation?
What does success and failure look like for this partnership?
At what point will you have a conversation about the future of your partnership and how/if it will continue?

More information

Evaluation toolkit

WIE has a toolkit about evaluating public engagement projects on our skills festival. It covers a step by step approach from planning your evaluation to analysing your results.

Step-by-step introductory guide to planning an evaluation