Over the past few years, more and more funders with free-standing, endowed, or well-resourced private philanthropies have reached out to us asking us for help connecting them to potential co-funders. The pattern has often been this: The philanthropist is starting up or scaling an innovative program that will transform that field, and they want to attract peer partners to join them in supporting their initiative. At first, they describe it as “co-funder acquisition” or “resource mobilization” or “seeking philanthropic partners,” but eventually the word “fundraising” pops up. At some point, we realized we were witnessing a new trend: funders fundraising.

Not including stand-alone entities whose primary purpose is to fundraise from multiple donors, we have so far identified at least 10 major philanthropic organizations that have staff who dedicate part or all of their time to mobilizing resources toward their organizations’ missions—and there are likely more. Our analysis of and work in this area has helped refine our understanding of how this approach emerged; how it differs from other approaches, including donor collaboratives; and its benefits and challenges. Here, we aim to help philanthropists interested in adding this form of “getting” to their giving activities determine whether and how to incorporate it into their work.

As these benefits and challenges suggest, fundraising can be a productive avenue for social good, but it isn’t suited to everyone. The following four steps can help funders evaluate whether it’s worth pursuing.

  1. Get clear about goals. First, make sure you’re working on behalf of what the public needs, not just following your own pet project or a charismatic expert’s shiny new idea. Fundraising is best suited for strategies that are clear, measurable, and attainable. Ask: How, specifically, will this approach further a critical social or scientific mission?
  2. 2. Engage the community. Take the time to ask grantees and others affected by the problem you’re addressing what they want, and use a third party to conduct interviews, an anonymous survey, or another method that enables honest input.
  3. 3. Assess internal fundraising capabilities. The skills, systems, experience, and effort required to mount a successful fundraising operation are well-established and available, but not always built into operations. It’s important to consider which staff would be responsible for fundraising, creating marketing materials, and monitoring a potential donor database.
  4. Consider alternatives. Conduct a full field scan to identify donor collaborative efforts or leading nonprofits in your sector that you could support. This will help you determine whether fundraising is truly the best way or the only way to further your mission. Use your networks and resources to engage with peer groups such as Health Research Alliance, Giving Compass, Philanthropy Together, and P150, and determine whether there are efforts underway in your areas of interest.

Read the full article about funders fundraising by Valerie Conn and Sofia Michelakis at Stanford Social Innovation Review.