Stanford Social Innovation Review : Informing and inspiring leaders of social change

The Value of High Stakes Donor Collaboration

Collaboration is a hot topic in philanthropy and a common practice, but one form remains uncommon. Few foundations and philanthropists pool their time, expertise, and financial resources around multiyear goals beyond the reach of any one participant. When they do, their unified action can yield impressive results. So why don’t such collaborations happen more often? Join Willa Seldon, a partner at Bridgespan, when she reviews the barriers to high stakes collaboration and how to work around them, and discusses the three types of collaborations that work best. She will be joined by Oak Foundation’s Kristian Parker, a founding board member of the European Climate Foundation and the Oceans 5 donor collaborative. Parker will add first-hand insights and explain how new donors can benefit from joining forces with those, like the Oak Foundation, that have expertise in a particular area.

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Related Story: High Stakes Donor Collaborations

Listening to Beneficiaries

To become more effective, nonprofits and foundations are turning to various sources for advice. Some look to experts, others turn to crowdsourcing. Experts and crowds can produce valuable insights, but too often nonprofits and funders ignore the constituents who matter most, the intended beneficiaries. Join Fay Twersky, Phil Buchanan, and Valerie Threlfall as they discuss the reasons why surveying beneficiaries is so important, how the feedback can be used, and some of the challenges to doing this and how to overcome them. They will also provide real-world examples of organizations that are effectively surveying beneficiaries, including their own experience trying to elicit the voices of high school students through YouthTruth, a nonprofit that the three of them co-founded. YouthTruth has gathered feedback from close to 150,000 students across the United States.

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Related Story: Listening to Those Who Matter Most, the Beneficiaries

We’re Getting Data, Now What?

Thanks to rapid advances in computer and communication technologies, it is possible for stakeholders in the nonprofit sector to disclose more, to know more, and to demand more through increased transparency and collaboration. In October, a group of the largest US foundations committed to release their grant information in a consistent, open, and frequent manner. Dubbed the “Reporting Commitment,” 15 large foundations have agreed to report at least quarterly to the Foundation Center’s transparency-centered website, Glasspockets.org. In addition, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the financial firm LiquidNet announced in October a “New Markets for Good” effort, focused on helping donors—individuals and foundations—use data about different organizations to inform their giving choices. This webinar will explore the repercussions of these moves toward big and open data. Presenters will analyze how more timely grant reporting from foundations can allow other foundations and nonprofits to look for relevant patterns, identify potential partners, scan a field of activity, and potentially develop strategies that take into account other philanthropic resources.

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Living with the Gates Foundation

Drawing from a recent special issue of Alliance magazine, thought leaders representing a variety of sectors will discuss the impact that the Gates Foundation has had on global social change and how social initiatives may change as a result. During this live webinar, authors Ed Skloot, Megan Tompkins-Strange, Laura Freschi, and Bruce Sievers will share their perspectives on what large institutions like the Gates Foundation mean for democracy, whether the organization is becoming a “benevolent dictator” in global public health, how the Gates Foundation is reinvigorating discussion around the role of foundations in society, and more.

Moderator Tim Ogden, Stanford Social Innovation Review contributor and the Alliance special issue guest editor, will lead this lively discussion. Attendees will receive electronic access to the Alliance special issue upon registration and are encouraged to read the Gates Foundation section prior to the webinar.

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