Power is often the elephant in the room in partnerships for social or ecological change. Collaborations between grassroots organisations or social enterprises and established institutions are essential for creating impact — but inherent power imbalances affect both outcomes and the wellbeing of those involved. Too often, it’s the partners with fewer resources and less proximity to power who navigate these dynamics alone, absorbing the emotional and relational cost of making the partnership work.
This is one dimension of the cost of caring that doesn’t get enough attention. My research shows that collaboration can be very good for impact and very bad for the people doing the work — particularly when power imbalances are passively inherited from the system rather than actively addressed.
The Power in Partnerships Companion, based on co-created work with Rising Arts Agency and supported by The Centre for Cultural Value, is a practical, evidence-based resource that helps organisations make power dynamics visible and actionable. It draws on co-created research centring marginalised voices to examine how power operates in partnerships — both the visible (who holds the budget, who’s named as lead) and the invisible (whose expertise counts, whose ways of working are considered “professional,” what labour gets resourced).
Good intentions don’t neutralise power. But intention, honesty, and practical tools can begin to transform it.