Social partnership is a social phenomenon characteristic of the modern type of society, which arose during the period of industrial development and continues to develop at present. The article is an overview of the state of this phenomenon in modern Russia, made on the basis of a documentary analysis of the most recent scientific works on this issue. Social partnership today is a social institution, a social mechanism, an instrument for the implementation of modern state policy, which embodies the idea of humanism, a social state, which develops civil culture in society. The most important actors in cross-sectoral partnerships are considered. The main problems arising in the course of their interaction are highlighted.