9: Managing Relationships with External Organizations

Background

Relationship management is a function “concerned with creating and maintaining relationships with external organizations”(1). The importance of having relationship management within an organization is to be able to increase partnership, and to learn and to share resources with other organizations.

One of the ways NCRIC manages its relationships with other organizations, such as Ayuda, Inc. and ProBar, is to call them to update their information and services in the organization’s database. It is important for NCRIC to manage its relationships well with other NGOs that provide somewhat similar services that NCRIC offers. There are instances when NCRIC have to refuse its services to the clients, in particularly when the client is accompanied by a parent. However, as an alternative solution, NCRIC first asks and then sends to the client a list of NGOs that would be able to help--these are the NGOs that NCRIC has been continuing its relationship.

Analysis

As briefly mentioned in the background section, one of the strengths of NCRIC is that it manages its relationship with other NGOs in order to help the clients that NCRIC is unable to help due to lack of funding. NCRIC regularly updates the list of organizational network by calling each of them to find out their locations and their services.

Furthermore, NCRIC networks with other types of institutions, such as law schools, foundations, banks, human rights organizations, charity organizations, refugee and immigrant resettlement organizations, and other private entities. NCRIC also partners with law firms in order to recruit pro-bono lawyers.

Despite its consistent efforts to partner with law firms, NCRIC faces a limitation in terms of attracting pro-bono lawyers who would take cases that are not “compelling,” such as economic hardships. Furthermore, in spite of numerous foundations supporting NCRIC, the organization still lacks funding.

Recommendation

• • NCRIC should strengthen its partnership with pro-bono lawyers.

  • NCRIC should increase its marketing and grant writing efforts to raise more funding for the organization.

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(1) lecture slides, week 13, Tuesday, Managing Relationships, p. 2