Common Good Ventures

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Our partnership philosophy

"We're never made to feel it's anything other than a collaboration - that's been really great."

"One of the best things is the way Common Good Ventures comes to the table with a sense of partnership. [Our consultant] is constantly reinforcing that. We're never made to feel like we're behind the eight ball, and that [our consultant] is leading us out of a mess."

We take our partnership approach very seriously. Partnerships are long-term relationships based on trust and mutual benefit. We're don't always get it right, but we strive hard to honor those principles. Our partnership philosophy is based on:

Respect. We recognize and value the unique skills and perspectives of each partner in the relationship. We believe our partners know their stuff - their clients, their industry, their organizations. Common Good Ventures' team members bring a complimentary mix of experience and expertise to make our partners' knowledge even more useful.

Our Partners' Goals. Our partners' identify and set the goals for our work together. What's the impact they want to have on Maine? What are the priorities for strengthening their organization? When we agree upon a partnership, we've already gone through a process of assessing how that partner's goals align with Common Good Ventures big picture vision and we're signing on to help them achieve those goals.

Mutual accountability. We are accountable for the Common Good Ventures team members' interactions with our partners being productive and highly valuable. In turn our partners are accountable for making significant progress toward the outcomes they have identified.

Meaningful Progress. We don't assume everything will go exactly according to plan - it won't. But our ongoing relationship is contingent on a partner dedicating sufficient effort and making sufficient progress toward their targeted outcomes, as well as our assessment of future potential.