Partnership working: Lessons from the third sector in Wales

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Partnership working is now commonplace across the third sector in Wales. The National Lottery Community Fund (The Fund) actively promotes partnership working through its funding where it is sensible to do so, and this collaboration often makes the greatest positive impact on communities. Three of The Fund’s current programmes required partnerships to apply for funding: Mind Our Future, Helping End Homelessness, and Sustainable Steps: Green Careers.

Partnership working inevitably brings with it some challenges and barriers. The Fund commissioned The Funding Centre to research the impact of partnership working. Using 121 survey responses and 37 interviews with grant holders, key stakeholders, and third sector organisations, The Fund has been able to get a better understanding of the attitudes and behaviours associated with partnership working. This includes what success looks like within partnerships and how common challenges can be addressed – and lessons for funders, too. The Fund is using this research to inform the support and advice offered to organisations on partnership working to help them make the greatest impact possible.

This summary report captures the headline findings from the research.

Date published
August 2025

Research highlights

Benefits

The advantages of working together are well-known in the sector. According to the recent research, around 3 in 4 organisations recognise the benefits of partnership working. These include:

  • Improved reach in communities - By working collaboratively, organisations can increase the number of beneficiaries they are providing the service and support to.
  • Integrated and joined up support and services - Combining services together allows organisations to work more efficiently and effectively, as well as reducing the risk of duplication.
  • Establishing ongoing relationships, knowledge sharing, and referrals -Building relationships and networks with other organisations opens the door for future opportunities and collaborative work.
  • Skills, expertise and resources can be shared - Allows organisations to learn from others and may lead to opportunities they had been unaware of.
  • Promotes strategic delivery - Creates a service which maximises the capabilities of all partners, is financially savvy, and provides a better outcome for beneficiaries.
  • Supports enhanced learning and development - Sharing of expertise and experiences can help organisations learn and grow by sharing best practice.

Challenges

While there are many positives, to partnership working, it also brings its challenges. For survey respondents, capacity and time seem to be the two biggest challenges. They identified complexity, conflict, risk, and trust as further challenges.

Key lessons for The Fund

Most respondents (83%) who worked on a partnership project supported by The Fund had a positive experience, but only 45% felt that The Fund provides clear expectations on partnership working, highlighting room for improvement. The research made several recommendations:

  • Guidance and training – The Fund should explore its capacity to provide more support to organisations around the development and delivery of effective partnerships. This might include guidance on skills and capacity-building, broad guidelines for the expectations of partnership size, and advice on maintaining trust and relationships.
  • Partnerships within Funding Programmes – For organisations, the length of funding programmes and the level of grant available influence whether a partnership approach is appropriate and ‘worth the investment’.
  • Funding for Partnerships – Development funding helps organisations negotiate the extra demands of developing complex partnership bids – particularly for smaller organisations.
  • Understanding – The Fund should recognise that partnership working adds complexity, challenges and cost. And it could provide space for more learning on best practice and innovative approaches.

Next Steps

The Fund is sharing the findings of this research with external audiences through this summary report and a series of blogs, virtual events, and a social media campaign to prompt a broader conversation with the third sector, other funders and public bodies. The Fund will consider the findings in the development of future programmes.


Partnership working: Lessons from the third sector in Wales (PDF 4 MB)

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