Purpose happens when partnerships don’t just perform, they deliver

Partnership is often talked about as if it were an aspiration rather than a discipline. We get together, we collaborate, we plot a way forward that will improve things. Yet too often, the lived experience of families tells a different story. Systems still feel fragmented, support still arrives too late and outcomes still lag far behind intent. 

The work of The Purpose Coalition starts from a simple premise: tackling complex social challenges demands collaboration that is practical, accountable and prepared to challenge the status quo. Not partnership as performance, but partnership as delivery. 

That is why the recent announcement that two Coalition partners, E.ON Next and The Wise Group, are joining forces with Glasgow City Council to help ease child poverty matters so much. Not because it is another pilot. But because it shows what becomes possible when organisations are willing to align around outcomes rather than protect existing ways of working. 

Fuel poverty is not just an energy issue. It shapes family wellbeing, educational outcomes, health and long-term life chances. In Glasgow, where more than a quarter of children live in relative poverty, the impact is stark. Cold homes, unmanageable bills and rising debt create a daily strain that is all pervasive. 

This partnership tackles that reality head-on. It combines E.ON’s home battery systems and energy efficiency support with debt relief and trusted mentoring through The Wise Group. It uses data intelligently to reach families who most need support, starting from the perspective of the whole family, not a single service line or budget. 

The result is tangible. Families can save up to 30 per cent on electricity bills through batteries alone. Homes become warmer and cheaper to run. Financial stress eases. Stability increases. These are not abstract benefits. They are daily improvements that create space for children and their families to thrive. 

What makes this initiative especially powerful is that it refuses to stay in its lane. Energy innovation is integrated with social support. Local government, business and the third sector share responsibility for delivery. Risk is shared rather than pushed down the system. E.ON Next brings innovation and investment. The Wise Group brings trusted relationships. Glasgow City Council brings local leadership and scale. 

This is exactly the kind of partnership The Purposes Coalition exists to champion. One that aligns commercial capability with public purpose. One that measures success in outcomes, not activity. And one that is designed to scale, with ambitions to reach the families of nearly 26,000 children living in relative poverty across the city. 

There is also a wider lesson on social impact here. Progress requires a willingness to challenge comfortable assumptions and to back approaches that feel different precisely because they are. This Glasgow partnership does that. It moves beyond siloed budgets and transactional contracts and trusts frontline delivery. It blends prevention with immediate relief and accepts that real impact demands long-term thinking, not short-term box-ticking. 

Of course, scaling this kind of work will not be easy. It requires leaders who are willing to take risks, to share credit and to prioritise collective outcomes over institutional comfort. But if we are serious about tackling child poverty and improving people’s lives, these are exactly the choices we must make. 

This is partnership done properly. Not as performance, but as progress. And it offers a compelling blueprint for how purpose-led collaboration can deliver real change where it matters most.