District Engagement Best Practices for Nonprofits

Nonprofit organizations across the country are eager to partner with school districts and return to or expand upon their pre-pandemic partnerships, yet, they have found that school partners do not necessarily operate the way they used to. Many districts paused external partnerships entirely while other districts asked nonprofits to shift their focus and change to a virtual delivery model. Supporting Pk – 12 students post-pandemic, whether as in-school or out-of-school partners, has required nonprofit organizations to adopt a new orientation to the work– one that has relied on a shared understanding of student needs in a specific community and one that has required districts to streamline and prioritize nonprofit partnerships that are best positioned to provide support.

As school districts look to address the needs of their students and seek community partnerships to increase the number of caring adults to serve as tutors, mentors, student success coaches, student support coordinators, and/or post-secondary transition coaches, nonprofits must be ready to build and sustain partnerships at both the school and district level. This resource is designed to provide nonprofit organizations with strategies to communicate how they are an indispensable asset to districts. It offers a list of best practices to consider for building relationships with school districts that will position them to sustain partnerships over time. The target audiences this resource was created to support include affiliates of national youth development organizations, community-based nonprofits anchored in the people-powered needs of its community, AmeriCorps grantees and partners, organizations that place older adults or college students in P-12 student support roles, and more.