A Time for Collaborative Philanthropy

If I hear the phrase “social distancing” one more time, I may never look at the news again. Physical distancing, yes. But socially, my communities are closer than ever before. In the past week, I have connected online with more friends, acquaintances and peers than in the past six months combined. We express shared concerns and frustrations, but also laughs and moments of relief.

Why do I mention all this? What does it have to do with philanthropy? Everything.

People are looking for ways to come together, to feel like they can do something during a confusing time where many feel helpless. Collaborative philanthropy offers a meaningful and relevant way to do that — while having a significant long-term impact.

Making big changes requires big money, but it also requires better ideas, more time, and the expertise of a variety of people from different backgrounds. This is what collaborative philanthropy offers.

Many organisations have begun pulling together resources to support collective grantmaking. These include NCVO, who have shared UK-wide appeals and funds to alleviate immediate financial pressures and uncertainty, and The Giving By All team at The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has pulled together an excellent and growing list of collaborative response funds focused on supporting communities in greatest need. These funds and coalitions activate urgent resources from individual donors, foundations and corporations.

We are seeing membership bodies of funders, like London Funders, playing an important and collaborative role to address the pressing needs of society in ways that may be different from their traditional funding. Through their cross-sector membership of funders and investors they have committed to an adapted approach to supporting the organisations they work with, including more flexibility in terms of dates and how they spend money in addition to offering a listening ear and open communications around challenges at this time. Other funders are invited to join the alliance and pledge their commitment to work with this group to best serve communities.

On the grassroots level, there are thousands of giving circles across the world who are coming together to support their communities, especially on the local level. Giving circles are groups of people who pool their resources to support a mutually agreed upon cause. While we all feel the effects of this crisis, small and under-sourced charities are struggling particularly hard — to the extent that their existence is in peril. Collective giving groups, who are on the ground and know the needs of their communities best, can play an outsized role, directly impacting whether an organisation can keep its lights on over the next few months. One prime example is the Women’s Giving Circle of Howard County in Maryland, which has set aside funds to assist local women and their families who are being impacted by COVID-19 through their WGC’s Emergency Response Network (ERN).

Right now, individual donors and foundations are facing a complex dilemma — stick to the planned out course, or consider a new, temporary framework for giving. With information overload and decision paralysis, it can be a daunting choice. This moment in time is lending itself perfectly to a collaborative style of giving where sharing in the risk and decision-making goes hand-in-hand with making sustainable strategic and systemic change.

Here at I.G., we are focusing our efforts on organisations who most need support during COVID-19. This includes, but is not limited to, designing and managing funds, partnership development, and needed assessments, amongst a host of other support services. We are just a virtual coffee chat away and our doors are open to help.

Together, we are all greater than the sum of our parts.