TABLE 1.

Description of Partnership Levels in the Collaboration Continuum (Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, 2016; Himmelman, 2002)

Partnership Level (Level of Formality)	Activities	Primary Focus	Timea and Trustb	Shared Turfc	Shared Resources, Responsibilities, and Risks
Networking (informal)	Exchanging information	Exchanging information	Minimal	No	No
Coordination (formal)	Exchanging information and altering activities	Increasing accessibility to services and resources	Moderate	No	No or minimal
Cooperation (formal)	Exchanging information, altering activities, and sharing resources	Extensive sharing of resources, risks, responsibilities, and rewards	High	High	High
Collaboration (formal)	Exchanging information, altering activities, sharing resources, and enhancing each other’s capacity	Enhancing each other’s capacity for mutual benefit	Extensive	Extensive	Extensive
Merging/integration (formal)	Integrating information, activities, and resources to enhance each other’s capacity	Organizational restructuring to operate as one entity	Extensive	Full	Full

^aTime refers to how much time an entity has to work on establishing, maintaining, and deepening partnerships.

^bTrust is the confidence one entity has in another to be reliable and do what is right.

^cTurf denotes an organization’s sphere of activity or influence.