Member Login

⬅ Blog

9 Funder Conversations in One Week: Q&A

International community sitting together

 

One of the highlights of our work at Connective Impact is when donors seeking new and diverse grantees ask us to help them make matches with our members. This requires scheduling multiple check in calls each week with funders of all types -- philanthropic, corporate, government or impact investors.

This week, we had 9 funder calls scheduled, and posted on LinkedIn, "what questions should we ask?"

The questions (and their answers) are posted below. We'll continue to inquire with funders about your questions around unrestricted funding, long-term relationships and funding for organizational development.

If you have other questions we should be asking, send us an email ([email protected]) and we'll try and get those questions answered!

Question from Elorm: How can funders help improve multi-stakeholder partnerships for long-term system change initiatives?

Answer from a philanthropic donor: When we fund, we do enough due diligence to be able to make a sound decision that with our funds we can invest via unrestricted funding without having too onerous a due diligence process.  We hope that our grantees build partnerships and help develop the long term potential for growth together with our support and funding. We want to see programs be catalytic and we hope that by investing in systems change and partnership-led programs we will see more of this type of activity funded by others. 

Elorm also asked about philanthropic funding from donors that can be catalytic towards more social entrepreneurial ideas.

One corporate funder is toying around with this idea. We also know of another impact investor that is considering new funding in this space. Venture philanthropy funds like LGT Philanthropy and Rippleworks already work with this model. We suspect there will be more in the future. We also got a lot of support when we posted about this idea on LinkedIn.

Question from Nonsi: What level of priority will unrestricted funding be this year?

Answer from an impact investor that traditionally funds restricted: We are looking more into how to fund unrestricted and still meet our organizational goals and the goals of our main investors. Having limited resources means we need to look at our goals as the primary mover. But we also want to fund more local and have broader impact goals so unrestricted funding may become more of an option for us.

Question from Derek: It would be great to know if they can afford to invest in impact or if they are looking to provide smaller grants to NGOs. Are they willing to fund the entire project or just a portion of it? 

Answer from a Corporate Foundation: We are currently investing in a specific region in East Africa and have some specific goals we need to achieve from this investment. So in this case we are just funding portions of projects. BUT we are looking for co-investment so we can build out more of a presence in the region, which would allow us to fund the entire project AND other partners.

Question from Holli: How are donors balancing the demand to reduce complex reporting requirements of grantees/building trust for less restrictive project design with the desire for more metrics and learning?

Answer from Foundation Funder: Ideally we could be hands off. But we have certain risk abatement measures that are in place, agreed to by our Board, that require us to ask certain questions, ask for certain reporting requirements, and make the project design a bit more onerous for our grantees. We are working on a process to help our grantees move from ticking boxes to being more self-sufficient, and this means also working with organizations that aren't used to reporting or don't have the capacity to report. So we need to help build that capacity.

Question from Aapurv: Curious to know how funders are looking to make their work disability inclusive. And not from a charity/ medical model but from a rights-based one. It could be range from changing internal policies to become a disability inclusive employer to funding specific programs that support the leadership of persons with disabilities.

Answer from Corporate Funder: Disability rights, and also looking at supporting more vulnerable populations, is high on our priority list. Because we don't have the mechanisms in place to know this space inside and out, this is where we'll look to partner with other donors, especially in the health space.

Question from Shelly: How are they prioritizing impact now vs long-term systems change impact? Is it a balance or are they prioritizing one over the other?

Answer from Philanthropic Foundation: We are really looking at longer-term funding for our investments. This will have to be based on opportunities for systems change, but will also rely on co-investment since we can't shift the needle like we'd want to all by ourselves. We also don't want to reinvent the wheel. A lot of how we fund long-term will be based on proximity to our existing grantees so we can build based on what's already working.

Questions from Perry: How important is "proximate leadership" to them? How are they thinking about consistency of commitment to an organization? How do they decide to stop funding an organization?

Answer from Philanthropic Foundation: The definite of proximate is somewhat subjective, but we are trying to take that into consideration more and more. Even more important though, is working with a leader that has an entrepreneurial mindset. One who is willing to have some give and take with us. Sometimes a local leader isn't the right leader for that back and forth. Commitment is based on this partnership. We want to feel like we are in this together. We will stop funding an organization when the work isn't resonating anymore with our team or when their leadership isn't willing to have a symbiotic relationship. If personalities don't jive we will not fund them.

Question from Melissa: Who is interested in investing in human rights education that connects local struggles with global movements?

Answer from a Corporate Foundation: Looking at the intersection of human rights and movement building is something we are trying to do more of. We face a bit of a road block because of our risk profile. We need to work with conduits to help us get closer to the issues, challenges, and opportunities. We may not always have the time or bandwidth to build relationships so need to find organizations we trust who can help us through the learning process. 

Questions from Andrea: What sorts of innovative/disruptive climate communications/storytelling/influence programs are they funding? so can work better. Are new media, podcasts and/or otherwise entertainment industry nonprofits forwarding a climate justice mission a priority?

Answer from a Foundation Funder: Climate is a big priority but more so looking at the on-the-ground impacts and how we can help support urgent needs through our investments.

 

 

 

 

Stay connected with news and updates!

Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.

Don't worry, your information will not be sold or shared.