Giving Compass' Take:

• Casey Pechan, writing for Fluxx, offers five tips on how to bring about collective action in 2020 and how philanthropy can collaboratively make change happen across different sectors. 

• Is there space for your charitable giving to be collaborative? 

• Read about the importance of collective action for SDG progress. 

The collective action approach was developed because funders knew they needed to do more. They needed to better support grantees, collaborate with the private sector, and assist with local and national government initiatives (like getting the world’s youth to stop smoking). Today we see philanthropy stepping up to the plate (collaboratively) to support a myriad of different initiatives across the social, private, and government sectors.

If this all sounds like a massive effort, that’s because it is. But this coordination will undoubtedly lead to improved impact for our society as a whole. But how we make collective action… actionable? Here are five straightforward tips that can help!

  1. Put Community First The collective action approach recognizes and prioritizes the community as the basis of all funding. In order to support communities, their needs and experiences must take first priority.
  2.  Leverage Expertise and Relationships Each funder, nonprofit, and community member involved in a large-scale philanthropic project brings important skills and contributions to the effort.
  3. Clarify Everyone’s Role The bigger the project, the bigger the team. Every person involved in the collective action model should understand their role within a collaborative initiative.
  4. Set Manageable Goals With Grantees Collective action can initially feel data-intensive on grantees. Therefore it’s imperative that all actors involved make every effort to minimize the burden on the grantees’ shoulders whenever possible without jeopardizing the success of the project.
  5. Revisit Your Priorities – and Be Open to Pivoting As we stated earlier, the collective action approach was developed because funders knew they needed to tackle long-standing problems, take on more initiatives, and do more.

Read the full article about collective action by Casey Pechan at Fluxx.