The community energy planning process will help you to identify any internal gaps in technical, legal and financial experience, as well as funding issues.

Entering into a partnership may be helpful to help bridge these gaps. Benefits of a partnership can include access to:

• complementary skills and resources
• capital or funding
• project development expertise.

A trade-off is that you will not have complete control and ownership of the project. 

General considerations to keep in mind when looking for a partner include:

1. Can the partner provide references?
    
2. Has the potential partner participated in this type of project before and in what capacity?
    
3. What is your potential partner's financial status and will the partner be able to meet its commitments to your project?
    
4. What skills can the partner bring to your project and how will these skills complement your community's skills?

The community's bank and the accounting firm working for your Tribal Council can often help determine the experience capability of reputation of a potential partner.
 

All partnerships need to be bound by legal agreements drafted by independent legal advisors for each party involved in the partnership.