Towards Equitable Community-Industry Collaborations: Understanding the Experiences of Nonprofits' Collaborations with Tech Companies

Community-based partnerships are essential to creating inclusive and equitable technologies and design practices. Though recent scholarship in HCI focuses on equitable design practices, there is less focus on understanding the experiences of community-based nonprofit organizations (CBOs) when partnering with technology companies. In this paper, we focus on understanding the perspectives of CBOs by answering the following research question: What are the experiences of CBOs that have collaborated with technology companies? Through a series of design workshops with 18 participants who work at community-based nonprofits that have collaborated with technology firms, we identified four elements of community-industry collaborations that collectively shape the overall experience: divergences in cultural and organizational norms, "setting the table," project relationship dynamics, and affective qualities. We conclude by discussing the power structures that impact community-industry collaboration and suggest reflective practices to guide equitable collaborations between CBOs and tech companies.