Group Influence by Peers or Sector
Funders’ public commitments to good practice like the Pledge, funder collaboratives, participatory community funds, and nonprofit advocacy networks like Black Lives Matter all wield group influence on philanthropic approaches. Meanwhile, individual funder-innovators, like MacKenzie Scott, influence standards for groups of funders.
Data Highlight
Funders rated pressure from the nonprofit sector as the number five most influential factor leading to more flexible funding (Accelerating Equitable Grantmaking Survey, MilwayPLUS, November 2021, n=30).
Additional Resources
“A Call to Action: Philanthropy’s Commitment During COVID-19,” pledge signed by 800+ foundations to commit flexible resources to support nonprofit partners as they respond to the COVID-19 pandemic
Listen, Learn, Lead: Grantmaker Practices That Support Nonprofit Results, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations guidebook on effective practices
“[Proposal forms are] 39% similar; how can we be exponentially better?,” candid Fix the Form Project blog post about similarities in proposal forms between grantmakers and opportunities for efficiencies through coordination
“Funding Feedback,” SSIR case study on the development of the Fund for Shared Insight funder collaborative to advance the practice of gathering, listening to, and acting on grantee feedback
Influencing Funder Practice, Ford Foundation collection featuring an article on proven elements of funders influencing funders with six case studies
Getting Started:
-
Read the Council of Foundation’s Call to Action pledge commitment during COVID-19 and consider signing it.
-
Review collaborative funds related to the fields you support and consider joining one, or forming one.
-
Hold update calls across grantees to share their experiences about the impact of flexible, multi-year funding and report the learnings to your CEO and board. Join a funder learning network at GEO or CoF that shares research and experience on the impact of multi-year, flexible funding and share your learnings with peers.
-
Hold regular update calls with funders to grapple with issues and share the impact of long-term flexible grants, like MacKenzie Scott’s, to inspire other funders. Join or create ecosystem networks to strategically advance the movement to build funders shared understanding of excellent grant practice.