Collaboration and Alliance-Building in the Non-Profit Sector: Theoretical Foundations and Strategic Implications

Collaboration has become a defining element of twenty-first century non-profit practice. Facing resource constraints, legitimacy challenges, and political volatility, NGOs increasingly turn to alliances and networks for survival and influence. This article situates collaboration within collective action, network, and institutional theories to examine its strategic and ethical dimensions. It traces the evolution from local voluntary associations to transnational advocacy networks and digital collaborations, revealing both opportunities for resilience and risks of dependency or mission drift. By connecting theoretical foundations with empirical trajectories, the article offers an integrated framework for evaluating when collaboration strengthens organizational capacity and when it generates new vulnerabilities. It contributes to scholarly and practitioner debates on how cooperation can be structured to advance legitimacy, equity, and sustainable impact in civil society.