Cross-sector partnerships with small voluntary organisations: some reflections from a case study of a mutual support group

Abstract

This article explores two partnerships that members of a small mutual support group for people with heart disease made with representatives of other organisations in order to gain funding and other resources. With a theoretical framework suggested by Pierre Bourdieu, the partnership process is examined in terms of the relationships between organisational representatives and the resources or potential resources available to the voluntary group. The substantive finding from this case study is that the mutual support group achieved collaborative advantage by gaining professional, therapeutic services while remaining largely true to its core mission. The Bourdieusian approach made it possible both to examine the dynamics of power relations within the voluntary organisation and also to look at the interaction and structural constraints in cross-sector partnerships. It proved to be a flexible, wide-ranging framework for research on the voluntary sector.