In recent years, philanthropic funders have come to see the value in collaborating with one another to magnify their impact. Today we see all kinds of funders engaging with each other informally and learning from each other, and, increasingly, partnering in strategic funding together. In FSG’s experience working with funders, we have heard that committing to every collaboration opportunity can be overly time-consuming, especially for smaller funders with limited staff capacity. As invitations come across the desk, how can funders determine what collaboration opportunities will be most impactful?

Through our work facilitating and supporting funder collaboratives with strategic planning, we have observed that funders can take a strategic approach to right-sizing their collaboration by selecting what collaboration structures to engage in based on their organization’s strategic priorities and staff capacity.

The first thing to keep in mind is that different collaboration approaches require varying levels of commitment and result in different benefits for participants.

Once funders better understand the collaboration opportunities in front of them, they can select collaboration commitments based on goals for their strategic priorities. As with any strategic decision, it is important to make decisions based on a clear purpose. Rather than signing up for every collaborative opportunity, funders should revisit their strategic plan to determine what collaboration approach is the best fit for them. For example, it would be very time-consuming and nearly impossible for most funders to engage in strategic alignment collaboration activities for every area of their strategy. At the same time, funders are missing out on valuable benefits if they only collaborate through co-learning or information exchange. For the most impactful approach, funders should engage in different types of collaboration based on goals for their strategic priorities.

If funders are exploring a new issue area or strategic pillar, it can be very valuable to engage in coordinated activities where they can learn from other funders in the space and other stakeholders, such as beneficiaries and community members. Still, funders should pause to determine what level of commitment is strategic. They may want to maintain connections to learning communities across their strategy but prioritize participation in areas where learning is most needed. 

Read the full article about funder collaboration by Camila Novo-Viano at FSG.