Moving from Nonprofit Competition to Collaboration

In this episode, we speak with Peter Greer about the power of collaboration in the nonprofit space.

Peter shares insight from his book Rooting for Rivals: how nonprofits can multiply their impact by collaborating rather than competing with others:

Ray Kroc (the founder of McDonald’s) and Robert Mondavi (“the father of Napa Valley”) modeled two starkly different attitudes toward industry rivals. One favored ruthless competition while the other valued open-handed collaboration. Lessons from these for-profit leaders, combined with insights from the nonprofit sector, offer wisdom for those who lead and work within the nonprofit sector.

The nonprofit sector can be a surprisingly competitive sphere. Still, Peter argues that nonprofits’ needs demand good collaborative solutions. Nonprofits in any sector will benefit from the reminder that their fellow nonprofits are their co-laborers, not their rivals.

Peter Greer is the president and CEO of HOPE International. Peter’s favorite part of his job is spending time with the entrepreneurs HOPE serves—whether harvesting coffee with farmers in Rwanda, dancing alongside savings groups in Haiti, or visiting the greenhouses of entrepreneurs in Ukraine. Prior to HOPE, he worked in Rwanda, Cambodia, and Zimbabwe and received a master’s in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School. In his spare time, he has co-authored 14 books, including Mission Drift, Rooting for Rivals, and most recently, The Gift of Disillusionment. He lives with his wife, Laurel, and their four children in Lancaster, PA.