I was invited to speak at the 2002 National Forest Service Partnership Workshop Las Vegas, Nevada. Our session was titled, “Principles of Capacity Building” and I co-presented with Don Hunger, Program Development & Partnership Director for the SCA and Steve Kratville, Partnership & Outreach Coordinator for the northern region of the USFS.
Don and Steve began the presentation discussing partnerships from an agency and not for profit perspective, I then elaborated on the corporate and marketing aspects of successful relationships.
In my opinion, it was certainly an eye opener. For instance, I quickly learned that the USFS didn’t have a corporate standards manual (no current logo use guidelines exist), nor did they have established parameters for soliciting and entering into corporate partnerships. Steve, the gentleman I co-presented with, was on the national committee to make this happen and as far as I could tell – they were realizing strategic marketing expertise is a must.
We reviewed this agenda, in detail, in an effort to assist in establishing their goals, maximizing exposure and developing winning strategies for partnership solicitations.
