a memorandum of understanding (mou) is an agreement made between two or more partners. an mou is normally signed when ngos agree to work with each other, or when an ngo agrees to work with the government. in an mou, all parties are considered equal, and agree to worth together in good faith. this is different to a contract in which one organisation pays another organisation to supply goods or services. it is also different to a contract between a donor and recipient organisation. an mou should not be used as a substitute for a legally binding contract. the following mou template is for information purposes. tools4dev  cannot (and does not) give legal advice and recommends that you have the final mou reviewed by a lawyer or specialist in your own country to make sure it is relevant to local laws. the mou template by tools4dev is licensed under a creative commons attribution-sharealike 3.0 unported license. all other content is © tools4dev.

this agreement of partnership is effective as of [beginning date], by and between the undersigned to wit: things to consider formation of the partnership. things to consider value of the partnership. each calendar year, the partnership will conduct an audit of the accounts and a full and complete account of the condition of the partnership shall be made to all the partners. none of the partners of this partnership shall be a broker.

purchase, partnership, employment) with another person or entity and would like to have an understanding of the agreement in place prior to finalizing the details. notwithstanding the terms “partners” and “partnership”, the partners agree that they are not entering into a legal partnership, joint venture or other such business arrangement, nor is the purpose of the partners to enter into a commercial undertaking for monetary gain. the purpose of a memorandum of agreement is to place, in writing, the relationship between any two parties who intend to work on a project or towards an objective. they give you a much more formalized agreement that is far more solid in terms of expectations and assignment of responsibility and delivery. the purpose of the moa is to establish the goals, outcomes, and milestones you hope to achieve with your new partnership.