Business-non-profit partnerships are expected to create sustained impact, yet they often remain temporary or episodic. By using relationship ending theory and drawing on partnership types from Austin and Seitanidi (2012a), we explore the termination of business-non-profit partnerships and connect how partnerships end to their potential long-term impact. Specifically, we ask: How and why do business-non-profit partnerships end? And, what is the relationship between partnership type and partnership endings? Through interviews and focus groups, we identify two partnership endings: ‘exit’ and ‘spinout.’ The former is the expected severance of ties due to dissatisfaction or the accomplishment of an intended outcome. The latter is more intriguing. As illustrated through two case examples, successful partnerships can create financially self-sustaining social enterprises that continue tackling the chosen problems independently. We argue that spinning out a social enterprise offers a pragmatic pathway that precludes deeper integration between partners – contrary to what is often proposed in the partnership literature – and is best understood as a relationship ending process.

商业非营利伙伴关系有望产生持续的影响，但它们通常仍是暂时的或暂时的。通过使用关系终结理论并借鉴Austin和Seitanidi（2012a）的合伙类型，我们探索了商业-非营利伙伴关系的终止，并将伙伴关系如何终止其潜在的长期影响。具体来说，我们问：商业非营利伙伴关系如何以及为什么结束？而且，合伙类型和合伙结局之间是什么关系？通过访谈和焦点小组，我们确定了两个伙伴关系结局：“退出”和“衍生”。前者是由于不满或预期结果的实现而导致的预期的关系中断。后者更有趣。如两个案例所示，成功的伙伴关系可以创建财务自给自足的社会企业，继续独立解决选定的问题。我们认为，分拆社会企业提供了一种务实的途径，该途径排除了合作伙伴之间更深层的融合（这与合伙企业文献中经常提出的相反），并且最好将其理解为关系终结过程。