Creating a Partnerships Program

A partnerships program connects your ERLC community with other servers for mutual benefit. This guide covers how to build partnerships that add real value without creating administrative overhead.

1. Define What You Want from Partnerships

Partnerships that exist only for vanity metrics (a long list of partners) do not benefit your community. Before accepting or seeking partners, define your goals:

Collaborative operations: Joint patrols, cross-department events, shared training exercises.
Member growth: Mutual server advertising to aligned audiences.
Resource sharing: Sharing design assets, guides, or operational frameworks with compatible communities.

Your partnership criteria should follow from your goals. If you want collaborative operations, you need partners who are operational — not just large.

2. Set Partnership Criteria

Define minimum requirements before reviewing any partnership application:

Minimum active membership count — not total members, but members who participate regularly.
Operational compatibility — do they run similar department types or operate in a way that makes joint events viable?
Conduct standards — do their rules and enforcement match your community's values?
Stability — has the community been running for at least 30 to 60 days without significant leadership turnover?

3. Create a Partnership Agreement

Every partnership should have a documented agreement that both parties acknowledge:

What each server is expected to provide — advertising posts, joint event participation, etc.
How long the partnership lasts before review — typically 30, 60, or 90 days.
What constitutes a violation of the agreement.
How the partnership is dissolved if either party wants to end it.

An agreement does not need to be a formal document — a written summary in a channel or DM thread is sufficient. The point is that both parties understand what they agreed to.

4. Build a Partnership Application Process

Manage inbound partnership requests through a structured process:

Create a partnership application form or a standard set of questions for requests received via DM.
Assign a staff member responsible for reviewing applications — do not let them pile up without review.
Set a response timeline — acknowledge applications within 48 hours, even if the decision is still pending.
Keep a log of all applications, accepted or denied, so you have a reference if the same server applies again.

5. Maintain Partnerships Actively

Partnerships that are accepted and then ignored waste the opportunity:

Schedule at least one joint activity per partnership period — a shared patrol, a cross-server event, or a collaborative session.
Conduct a brief review at the end of each partnership period. Did the partner fulfill their commitments? Did the partnership add measurable value?
Do not renew partnerships that are inactive on both sides. Ending a partnership is not a conflict — it is operational maintenance.

6. Dissolve Partnerships Professionally

Partnerships end. Handle the process with the same professionalism you applied when establishing it:

Notify the partner leadership directly and privately before removing partnership perks or announcements.
Give a brief, factual reason for the dissolution — inactivity, change in direction, criteria no longer met.
Remove partnership roles, channels, and advertisements promptly after dissolution.
Do not post public commentary about why a partnership ended. Handle it internally.

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