Five Steps to Collaboration for Funders

This is part one of the a five part series on Collaboration for Funders. Part two talks about understanding the challenges.

Foundations take on the biggest and gnarliest social problems (if the problems could be easily solved, the private sector or governments would have already figured them out). But the impact of foundation resources on measurably impacting these problems is dwarfed by government spending, public policy, cultural factors and the forces of the private sector. A key role for funders is to point the way, and encourage the sectors they fund to make good long-term choices to solve big problems.

This is where the potential for collaboration comes in. If foundations can help NGOs, governments, universities, private sector organizations, and other groups work together more effectively, then their precious investment dollars go a lot further and their impact is magnified.

We'll be exploring the possibilities in real time during a Forum One webinar on Wednesday, June 23, at 2:30 p.m. EDT. We hope you can join us as our friends at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the California Healthcare Foundation share their experience in this domain.

This post is the first in a series in which we distill some of the lessons Forum One has learned from our work over the years and apply them to the particular needs and circumstances of the philanthropic sector.

In this post and the next few I'll be exploring these five steps to effective foundation collaboration:

1. Define the problem
2. Understand the challenges
3. Understand your community
4. Get the timing right
5. Use the right tools

Step One: Define the problem collaboration will solve

To justify the time and investment, an online collaboration solution has to address a clear problem in a decisive way.

What organizational problem are you solving? Carefully deployed collaboration tools may help with:

• Improving Perception: Despite your best intentions, grantees tend to see funders as aloof, elusive, and opaque.
• Establishing Process: Do your grantees know what they are supposed to do, and when? 
• Preventing Redundancy: Are you funding multiple efforts, and teaching each grantee the lessons you've learned time and time again?

What grantee problems need to be solved? Implemented thoughtfully, collaboration tools can help with:

• Building Capacity: If grantees aren't getting enough of your staff's time, they have the potential to help each other and to achieve higher levels of innovation through collaboration.
• Addressing Isolation: If your grantees are geographically dispersed, they can connect online.
• Aligning Strategies: If grantees are inclined to pursue their own tracks and get out of sync with your strategic intent, collaboration can provide clarity and consistency.

Is collaboration the best solution? Collaboration can demonstrably help with all of the above, but sometimes traditional solutions (holding a meeting, sending out more emails, or hiring more staff) can meet specific needs more easily and cheaply. Online collaboration has unique and powerful benefits, but you must first ask yourself the hard question: "why is it best to do it this way?" before proceeding.

If you're convinced online collaboration is the right approach, the next step is to Understand the Obstacles. We'll consider that in the next post.