In order to document the agreement between partners, you should draw up a collaboration agreement or memorandum of understanding. The precise form of this agreement will depend on the legal form of the collaboration and the scale of the partnership working. Some of the most important things to include would be the following (not an exhaustive list):
- Purpose of the agreement and the activities it is to cover
- Roles and responsibilities of the respective parties, spelling out authority levels for decisions
- The input of each partner in terms of expenses, staff and volunteer time and effort
- Which costs and expenses will be reimbursed or counted as part of the collaboration
- How any balancing up of costs will be handled, particularly bearing in mind VAT issues
- Communication between the collaboration partners and to the external world and the protocol for any external communications
- The time period for the collaboration and how it might be extended, as well as provision for early termination and notice periods
- An approach to dispute resolution should be set out in the agreement