Building Partnerships That Last: Protecting People and Trust When Funding Arrives | Somo Tech Literacy Centre (STLC)
Somo Tech Literacy Centre (STLC), formerly SomoTech Africa. Funding can change the relationships that hold community initiatives together. Lasting...
By Alex Muriiki
From Shared Hope to New Pressures
Most community-based organisations (CBOs) begin with genuine hope. A small team of changemakers, eager to make an impact, puts in late nights and unpaid effort towards community service, local development, brainstorming ideas and endlessly writing grant proposals. Shared struggle holds them together, along with a firm belief that persistence will eventually pay off. As the local saying goes, "You cannot be unlucky every day."
Then the moment arrives: a grant is won, partnerships are signed and cheers fill the air. Yet this moment of celebration is frequently when trouble begins to stir, especially in organisations made up of developing youths.
The Downward Spiral: From Shared Struggle to Elite Capture
The arrival of funding inevitably shifts power dynamics and changes an organisation’s internal chemistry. People are not inherently dishonest, but certain situations, particularly the introduction of money and status, tend to awaken self-interest that shared hardship had kept dormant.
Over time, elite capture creeps in. Roles once distributed according to skill and dedication begin to concentrate around a single leadership figure. This person starts absorbing decision-making, financial control and even technical tasks that rightfully belong to trained staff. Voices are silenced, personal agendas are imposed and team morale gradually dies.
Those who understand the work best, including field officers, community mobilisers and technical experts, are sidelined. Instead of being valued as vital assets, they are increasingly seen as threats. Nepotism, withheld information and favouritism take root.
When this behaviour goes unchecked through successive funding cycles, staff who once volunteered out of pure conviction grow frustrated and hopeless. Eventually, many walk away from community work altogether. The organisation loses its most capable talent, its credibility deteriorates and its visibility shrinks. The initiative is undone, not by a lack of external funding, but by how it treated its people once funding arrived.
What Makes a Partnership Sustainable?
Whether internal, between staff and leadership, or external, between organisations, a partnership survives when it rests on a clear division of roles and consistent respect rather than goodwill that depends on the situation.
Fair Access to Opportunity
Sustainable partnerships depend on fair access to opportunity. When attendance at forums, representation at conferences, public visibility and leadership roles are rotated according to capacity rather than monopolised, team members stay motivated. They can see a viable future for themselves within the mission, rather than feeling like a stepping stone in someone else’s rise.
People say that to rise, you must step on others. This should not be the case. Clear, direct communication, free of manipulation or implied threats, keeps trust intact even during intense disagreements.
Professional Boundaries That Protect Trust
Equally important is a workplace culture that protects professional boundaries. Favouritism rooted in personal relationships, especially between leadership and staff or volunteers, corrodes trust faster than almost anything else. Once team members believe decisions are being made to protect personal ties rather than advance the mission, internal cohesion unravels. Quietly at first, then irreversibly.
Reciprocity and Fairness Over Time
According to Social Exchange Theory, relationships endure when people perceive them as reciprocal, fair and trust-based over time. They break down the moment one side feels the relationship has become one-sided. For a CBO or NGO, this means staff and partners will continue investing their energy only as long as they believe the relationship gives back roughly what it demands.
Practical Action Steps for Organisations
To guard against these predictable pressures, organisations must put structural safeguards in place.
1. Maintain strict boundaries between financial control, technical execution and coordination roles, even under high pressure. A single leader absorbing every function is a warning sign, not a sign of strength.
2. Build a transparent, documented system for deciding who represents the organisation at external conferences, policy forums and leadership spaces.
3. Leaders must resolve minor grievances quickly and impartially before they harden into resentment or factional divisions.
4. Explicitly prohibit romantic or favouritism-based dynamics between leadership and staff or volunteers, and enforce these rules without exception.
5. Acknowledge the quiet, continuous work of core staff, rather than solely celebrating those who show up once success arrives.
6. Focus first on strengthening trust, internal systems and team morale before pursuing rapid expansion.
7. Share updates about budget allocations, funding status and strategic direction openly. Withheld information breeds suspicion faster than bad news.
Strong Internal Foundations, Lasting Community Impact
Partnerships rarely collapse because of a shortage of good intentions at the start. They fail when fairness, mutual respect and open communication are not safeguarded once success introduces new institutional pressures.
Research across governance, development and organisational behaviour shows that these breakdowns are rarely about individual bad character alone. They are the predictable result of institutional pressure acting on systems that were not deliberately designed to resist it.
Organisations that consciously guard against these dynamics through clear roles, equitable systems and continuous respect for the people doing the work build roots deep enough to endure. When that internal foundation is solid, communities rise alongside it, and real impact multiplies far beyond any single grant or partnership.
References & Sources Consulted
Cropanzano, R., & Mitchell, M. S. (2005). Social Exchange Theory: An Interdisciplinary Review. Journal of Management.
Frontiers in Education. (2024). Unveiling the toxic leadership culture in South African institutions: Authoritarian behaviour, cronyism and self-serving practices.
Kislenko, S., cited in "Founders: the good, the innovative, and the toxic," All About Estates (2021).
PLOS ONE. (2021). Are partnerships in nonprofit organizations being governed for sustainability? A partnering life cycle assessment.
Springer Nature. (2025). Mental Well-Being in the Workplace - Breaking Down Toxicity and Its Legal Implications in Africa.
Yokoyama, K., & Togo, H. (2024). Conditions for Eliminating or Mitigating Founder's Syndrome in Nonprofit Organizations. Kansai University.
Zulfiqar, F., & Moosvi, A. Understanding Elite Capture. Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.