As your plans take shape, you should start to identify potential partners who can help you to develop and deliver your project.
It’s important to identify partners who can support with different aspects of the project, such as providing building or tradesmanship advice and support, access to different parts of your community, offering skills you don’t have, providing investment or being champions for your project.
These partners can come from any sector – public, private or community – and the local authority may be able to suggest possible partners and broker relationships with them.
Partnerships can be informal or formal, but if partners are going to have a legal or financial stake in the project, or their contribution is an essential element of your plan, it’s good practice to have a partnership agreement in place.
A partnership agreement is formal document signed by both parties and sets out the details of the partnership, expectations, and responsibilities.
To ensure robustness and accuracy, it’s recommended that organisations consult with a legal expert when developing any partnership agreements.
When identifying partners, it’s important to outline how the partnership will benefit both parties. Examples include:
- local tradespeople who can help with aspects of a build or provide materials in return for promotion of their services
- a local caterer may run the café in your facility in return for a share of any profits
- a local business providing sponsorship in return for free advertising
- a school or college could benefit from free use of your facilities and in return promote your organisation to local families
- an accountancy firm may offer reduced financial services in return for a discounted membership offer to their clients.
Further information and support on developing effective partnerships can be found within Buddle’s creating community partnerships webpage or the My Community website.
This section has provided information to support your organisation in starting the Community Asset Transfer process.
It has included information to help you define your organisation's vision for the project, understand the needs of the local community, the importance of getting the right people involved, understanding the asset and identifying any risks, and where you can meet and align with any local authority strategic priorities.
The next section explores how your organisation can demonstrate the need and demand for an asset transfer, through effective business planning, different legal agreements and securing finance. These key steps will help get your organisation in the best position to take on a community asset.