More than a decade ago, GlobalGiving had a problem. Hundreds (and later thousands) of nonprofit organizations were eager to join the GlobalGiving community, and we didn’t have the resources to vet and support them all. Our organization was established to give every changemaker in the world a chance to raise the money they need to help their community—a belief codified in our core values as Always Open. How could we live up to these aspirations in a sustainable way?

A breakthrough idea came in the form of issuing a “challenge” to interested nonprofits: to join the GlobalGiving community, organizations would be required to not only pass our rigorous application and due diligence process but also raise a certain amount of funds in a limited time. This approach solved several problems. First, it ensured that future partners would be well-positioned to take advantage of one of our core offerings—a crowdfunding marketplace. Second, it further demonstrated the social connections (and by extension, the legitimacy) of potential partners. And finally, by setting a fundraising threshold required to join and retaining fees based on the funds raised, the program helped offset the costs of vetting and onboarding new partners.

However, GlobalGiving (and the world around us) has changed since the Open Challenge launched. Today, we no longer believe that this model is the best way to engage new partners in the GlobalGiving community.

We plan to design, in an iterative fashion, a new way to surface, select, and onboard new nonprofit partners. We hope to do so in a way that addresses the needs of community-led organizations and prioritizes the inclusion of organizations from historically marginalized, excluded, or underrepresented groups—those that are often blocked from traditional funding sources.

Read the full article about engaging nonprofit partners by Michael Gale at GlobalGiving.