The value of the collective

Over the past twenty years, structures of the social and solidarity economy (SSE) have come under considerable pressure due to a significant decline in public funding (for example, in France, public subsidies are estimated to have fallen by 41% between 2005 and 2020). Faced with this financial uncertainty, many SSE organisations are increasingly turning to private sources of funding, such as foundations, corporate philanthropy and hybrid partnerships, and are looking to cooperation as a means to strengthen and expand their activities and impact.Through strategic alliances, formal partnerships, shared initiatives or consortia, cooperation has become a key lever for combining resources, amplifying impact, and co-constructing responses that are adapted to the scale of today’s challenges.

The experience of the Social Impact through Sport (ISS) collective, supported by ScaleChanger and AVISE (a French agency that promotes social innovation and supports organisations in the Social and Solidarity Economy) through a national programme aimed at promoting and supporting projects of general interest in the field of autonomy, offers a tangible and inspiring example.

Sport as a driver of social impact

Ambitions of the consortium and first challenges

From the outset, Social Impact through Sport set itself the mission of co-developing and disseminating tools for public authorities, educators, and social actors, with the aim of advancing the socio-sport sector and promoting its social value. The project quickly brought together other organisations with similar ambitions, leading to the formation, in early 2024, of a collective of eight member organisations.

As the collective grew, the first challenges emerged, particularly the need for closer cooperation within a formal legal framework. It became essential to establish a more structured model of collaboration, allowing both founding members and newcomers to align on shared objectives, define commitments, roles and responsibilities, and clarify how each organisation would participate. This formal structure also aimed to facilitate the establishment of agreements with key strategic partners.

In response, the consortium decided to transition towards a more structured form of collaboration by creating a dedicated legal entity.

From an informal consortium to a structured organisation: the role of ScaleChanger

ScaleChanger contributed to the thinking and planning processes that led to this new cooperative framework and the creation of a dedicated legal structure.

ScaleChanger guided the ISS members through key steps in this transition, including:

• Producing a shared diagnostic involving all eight member organisations, clarifying the consortium’s positioning, distinctiveness, and objectives;
• Developing a joint roadmap to structure the collaboration within the new legal entity, step by step;
• Supporting the creation of a shared charter (vision, mission, areas of activity, ambition, values, principles of action, etc.);
• Assisting in projecting the future budget of the new organisation under several scenarios;
• Supporting the design of a target organisational and governance model for ISS, in collaboration with experts from the Impact Lawyers collective, a group specialising in legal support for social impact organisations.

This work was carried out through three collective seminars (organised by Avise), along with working sessions involving the leadership teams of each member organisation throughout the process.

In addition, with legal support from Impact Lawyers, the members finalised the creation of a dedicated association, designed to structure their cooperation, secure their growth, and collectively manage future projects, partnerships, funding, and recruitment.

An inspiring model for the social and solidarity economy

The experience of ISS highlights several key lessons for SSE actors seeking to scale up their impact while responding collectively to a social or environmental challenge without needing significant financial resources. When properly structured, cooperation becomes a strategic lever to:

• Strengthen the credibility and legitimacy of cooperating organisations: a shared framework reassures funders, lends credibility to projects supported by multiple entities, and amplifies the voices of members through joint positions.
• Increase visibility: cooperation enables organisations to speak with one voice and to share their initiatives, expertise, and practices more widely.
• Pool resources and enhance coordination between projects: by encouraging the sharing of skills and collaboration across networks, cooperation allows for the pooling of human resources, the strengthening of synergies, and the alignment of fragmented initiatives under a shared direction.

Foster mutual support and trust: beyond tangible results, structured cooperation provides a valuable framework for peer support and solidarity.

To conclude, the ScaleChanger team offers a few transferable recommendations for building successful alliances across sectors:

• Anchor the cooperation in a clear, collectively endorsed vision and shared objectives.
• Consider the specific contexts and constraints of each organisation and individual involved, and encourage human connection beyond operational and institutional ties.
• Formalise the operational arrangements of the collaboration, taking into account that each organisation is unique, has  their own capacities and that there may be different levels of involvement.
• Build a shared culture rooted in trust, transparency, and mutual commitment.
  

Are you part of an alliance or looking to structure one in your sector? ScaleChanger can support you at every stage:

• Cooperation diagnostics
• Strategic alignment
• Facilitation of peer-to-peer exchanges
• Structuring organisational and governance models
• Formalising the cooperation’s economic model

etc,