Building Stronger Partnerships Between Nonprofits and Banks
Developed by the ABA Foundation, whose mission is to empower banks as catalysts for positive change, The Power of Collaboration and The Power of Collaboration 2.0 are designed to help nonprofit and community organizations, including those serving military members, veterans, and their families build strategic, mutually beneficial partnerships with banks.
Together, these resources help nonprofits better understand the banking landscape and provide practical guidance for unlocking financial resources, programming support, expertise, volunteer engagement, and other collaborative opportunities with banks in their communities.
The Power of Collaboration: Understanding the Opportunity
The Power of Collaboration: A Guide for Nonprofits to Partner with Banks provides the foundation for understanding how and why banks engage with nonprofit and community organizations. It introduces nonprofits to the banking industry, explains what banks may look for in community partners, and explores the many ways banks and nonprofits can work together to address community needs.
The guide can help organizations:
- Navigate how banks support their communities, including the factors that shape community investment and engagement.
- Understand the banking landscape, including how banks operate and how regulations such as the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) can influence community-focused activities.
- Learn what banks look for in nonprofit partners, including mission alignment, organizational capacity, demonstrated community impact, and opportunities for mutually beneficial collaboration.
- Identify different forms of partnership beyond traditional grant funding, including financial education, employee volunteerism, community events, affordable housing initiatives, small-business support, financial counseling, and other programs.
- Identify the right contacts within a bank, including professionals working in community development, CRA, philanthropy, community relations, and related areas.
- Build a strong case for partnership by clearly communicating community needs, organizational strengths, anticipated outcomes, and areas of shared interest.
- Align your mission with banking initiatives that advance financial and economic well-being, creating opportunities to address shared community priorities.
- Establish relationships that can grow over time through communication, clear expectations, measurable results, and continued engagement.
The Power of Collaboration 2.0: Putting Partnership into Practice
The Power of Collaboration 2.0: Steps for Nonprofits to Build and Sustain Partnerships with Banks builds on the original guide by focusing on the “how.” It provides step-by-step guidance nonprofits can use to start, strengthen, sustain, and grow bank partnerships while also navigating challenges that may arise along the way.
A central feature of the guide is its Partnership Pathways Model, which organizes partnership development into three phases: Build, Sustain, and Grow.
The guide can help organizations:
- Identify potential bank partners and the right points of contact based on shared priorities and community needs.
- Approach banks effectively, beginning with conversations about shared goals and community needs rather than focusing solely on a request for funding.
- Develop a clear value proposition that explains who your organization serves, the challenges it addresses, and what your organization brings to a potential partnership.
- Start with manageable opportunities, such as financial education, employee volunteering, referrals, financial coaching, or community events, that allow both organizations to establish trust and demonstrate results.
- Set shared goals and expectations so both organizations understand their roles, responsibilities, and measures of success.
- Access step-by-step guidance for starting, strengthening, and sustaining bank partnerships—and navigating challenges along the way.
- Maintain strong relationships through ongoing communication, regular progress updates, transparency, and connections with multiple individuals within the bank.
- Measure and communicate impact in areas such as financial education and confidence, housing stability, homeownership, community wealth building, small-business growth, and economic mobility.
- Recognize and address common partnership challenges, including misaligned expectations, limited communication, overreliance on a single bank contact, or treating the relationship primarily as a source of funding.
- Determine when a successful partnership is ready to grow, using demonstrated outcomes and shared commitment as a foundation for expanding programs, populations served, or geographic reach.
A Resource for the Military and Veteran Community
For organizations serving military members, veterans, and their families, these guides offer a valuable framework for identifying where nonprofit missions and banking initiatives can intersect. Whether your organization is seeking funding, volunteers, financial expertise, educational programming, referrals, or other resources, stronger relationships with banks can create new opportunities to support the financial and economic well-being of the military and veteran community.
AMBA encourages our partners in the military and veteran space to explore both guides and consider how stronger, sustained partnerships with banks can expand their impact. By aligning missions and combining resources, expertise, and community connections, these collaborations can help advance financial stability, financial education, community wealth building, housing stability, homeownership, economic mobility, and other priorities that support military members, veterans, and their families.
Download the Guide from the ABA Foundation
Download the Guide from the ABA Foundation 2.0
The ABA Foundation Communications Toolkit is designed to help military banks share The Power of Collaboration guide with nonprofit organizations serving military and veteran communities. It includes sample outreach language, talking points, and tips to strengthen local partnerships.