Partner wisely: assessing partnerships and protecting your faith-based organisation

Faith-based organisations partner all the time — across denominations in ecumenical working, across faiths, and with charities, businesses and statutory bodies. At its best, partnership is mission in action: shared buildings, shared ministry, pooled resources, greater reach. But it is easy, in a spirit of goodwill and unity, to under-protect your organisation — to skip the assessment and the paperwork that keep both the partnership and your charity healthy. This article is about assessing partnerships properly and protecting your faith-based organisation, with a particular eye on ecumenical partnerships. It is general information, not advice — for significant partnerships, take professional legal and governance advice.

Partnership is good — but goodwill is not a plan

None of what follows is a reason to be wary of partnership. It is a reason to do it well. Trustees have a legal duty to act in their organisation's best interests and to protect its assets — and that duty does not pause because the partner is a fellow church, a trusted friend or a shared cause. The warmth of a relationship is not a substitute for due diligence and a clear agreement. In fact, getting these right is what protects the partnership itself — most partnerships that sour do so through misunderstanding, not bad faith.

Assess before you commit

Before entering any significant partnership, do your homework:

• Know your partner. Who are they, really? Their financial health, governance, reputation, track record and — crucially — their safeguarding arrangements. The Charity Commission's guidance on collaborative working (CC34) expects trustees to carry out due diligence that uncovers a partner's legal, financial and operational liabilities.
• Assess the risks — proportionately to the scale of what you're doing. What could go wrong, and who would bear it?
• Check it furthers your purposes. A partnership must advance your own charitable objects; trustees can't simply lend the charity's name and resources to someone else's aims.
• Be honest about values and theology. Especially in ecumenical and interfaith work, name openly where you agree and where you differ (our pieces on theological difference and interfaith conversations explore this). Shared work is stronger when the differences are acknowledged, not glossed over.

Ecumenical partnerships: get the framework right

For Christian denominations working together, there is a well-established framework, and it exists precisely so that churches don't have to improvise. A Local Ecumenical Partnership (LEP) is a formal written agreement affecting the ministry, congregational life, buildings and/or mission of more than one denomination, recognised by a Sponsoring Body and the relevant denominational authorities. In outline:

• Match the formality to the depth of sharing. There are broadly three levels — a working agreement (light-touch cooperation), a partnership agreement (more extensive resource-sharing), and a constitutional agreement (the most formal and legal). Don't use a handshake where a constitution is needed.
• Use the proper documents. A covenant or constitution, and an Ecumenical Vision Statement setting out the why. Much of the text is standard and church-approved — the point is to use it, not reinvent it.
• Follow the recognised process. Work through Churches Together in England (or the equivalent) and your own denomination's authorities; for the Church of England, ecumenical sharing engages Canon B44.
• Get shared buildings right. Where a building is shared, there should be a sharing agreement recording each denomination's original financial contribution and assets, often under the Sharing of Church Buildings Act 1969. And there is specific Church of England safeguarding guidance for LEPs — use it.

How to protect your organisation

Whether the partnership is ecumenical, interfaith or with a secular body, the protections are broadly the same:

• Always have a written agreement. Formal or informal, put it in writing. Set out the purpose, roles and responsibilities, money, property, decision-making, duration, review points and — vitally — how the partnership can be ended and what happens then. A verbal understanding is a dispute waiting to happen.
• Understand liability — this is the big one. Be careful not to create, by accident, a legal partnership in which partners are jointly and severally liable for one another's debts — meaning a creditor could pursue your organisation for the whole liability. Keep separate legal identities, consider a distinct legal vehicle for substantial joint activity, and take advice on the right structure.
• Protect the money. Agree how funds are held, ring-fenced and accounted for; respect restricted funds; consider VAT; keep transparency; and never commingle finances in a way that puts your assets at risk.
• Protect property. For shared premises, get ownership, occupation, maintenance, insurance and the sharing agreement clearly documented before anyone moves in.
• Don't dilute safeguarding. Agree whose policies apply, establish clear lines of accountability, sort DBS checks, and satisfy yourselves that the partner's arrangements are genuinely adequate. Safeguarding is among the most serious exposures a faith organisation carries — and the rules are tightening (see the 2026 change to regulated activity and keeping safeguarding robust).
• Agree data protection. Decide how any shared personal data is handled, lawfully and safely.
• Guard your reputation. You can be judged by the company you keep. Do reputational due diligence, and keep a clean exit if a partner's conduct or values diverge from yours.
• Keep decision-making and conflicts clear. Define who decides what, manage conflicts of interest, and remember trustees keep their duties throughout — they cannot be delegated away to a partnership.
• Build in review and exit. Agree review points, and a clean way out, including what happens to shared assets on dissolution.

A practical checklist

1. Do due diligence on the partner — financial, governance, safeguarding, reputation.
2. Risk-assess the arrangement, proportionately.
3. Confirm it furthers your charitable purposes.
4. Choose the right level and structure — and take advice on liability.
5. Put it in writing — roles, money, property, decisions, review, exit.
6. Nail down safeguarding accountability and check the partner's arrangements.
7. For ecumenical work, use the LEP framework, Sponsoring Body and proper agreements.
8. Review regularly, and know how to exit cleanly.

Keep the spirit and the substance together

The aim is not suspicion, nor to smother partnership in bureaucracy. It is to protect the very relationship you value. A clear agreement prevents the misunderstandings that break partnerships, and honest due diligence lets you commit with confidence rather than crossed fingers. Clarity, in other words, is a gift to both sides — enter partnerships generously, but wisely.

The bottom line

Partnership — ecumenical and beyond — is faith at its most practical and generous. But trustees must assess before they commit and protect their organisation with a clear written agreement, the right structure, and proper attention to money, property, safeguarding and exit. Do that groundwork, and far from holding the partnership back, you free it to flourish on foundations that will last. For anything significant, get professional legal and governance advice before you sign.

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This article is general information, not advice. Partnership, ecumenical, property and safeguarding law are complex and fact-specific — always take professional legal and governance advice before entering a significant partnership or signing an agreement. For help assessing a partnership and protecting your organisation — from due diligence to agreements and structure — get in touch.

Sources verified (July 2026):

• Charity Commission — Collaborative working and mergers: an introduction (CC34) — https://www.gov.uk/guidance/collaborative-working-and-mergers-an-introduction-cc34
• Charity Commission — Safeguarding and protecting people for charities and trustees — https://www.gov.uk/guidance/safeguarding-and-protecting-people-for-charities-and-trustees
• Churches Together in England — Local Ecumenical Partnerships (LEPs) — https://cte.org.uk/working-together/local/local-ecumenical-partnerships-leps/
• The Church of England — Safeguarding Guidance for Local Ecumenical Partnerships — https://www.churchofengland.org/safeguarding/safeguarding-e-manual/safeguarding-guidance-local-ecumenical-partnerships/
• Legislation.gov.uk — Sharing of Church Buildings Act 1969 — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1969/38
• NCVO — Joint working agreements explained — https://www.ncvo.org.uk/help-and-guidance/running-a-charity/collaboration/joint-working-agreements/explained/