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New Frontiers: The Funder’s Role in a Collective
Action/Impact Movement
Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families Conference
October 15, 2014
Agenda
Table introductions / brief discussion
About Rise Together Bay Area
What funders can do to support a collective impact movement
Discussion, questions & comments
© 2011 FSG3
FSG.ORG
Common Agenda
There Are Five Conditions For Achieving Collective Impact
Shared measurement
Mutually reinforcing activities
Continuous communication
Backbone support organizations
All participants have a shared vision for change including a common understanding of the problem and a joint approach to solving it through agreed upon actions
Collecting data and measuring results consistently across all participants ensures efforts remain aligned and participants hold each other accountable
Participant activities must be differentiated while still being coordinated through a mutually reinforcing plan of action
Consistent and open communication is needed across the many players to build trust, assure mutual objectives, and appreciate common motivation
Creating and managing collective impact requires a separate organization with staff and a specific set of skills to serve as the backbone for the entire initiative and coordinate participating organizations
What we know: Poverty is destroying lives and futures
Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families Conference –
October 15, 2014
• Bay Area families are struggling to make ends meet: Even though 86% of poor households have at least one person working, more than 440,000 families cannot meet their basic needs – 1 in 5. (United Way and Insight Center)
• 25% of California children ages 0-5 live in poverty. Licensed child care slots are available to only 25% of children 0-12 with working parents (CA Child Care RR Network)
• Families with children under age six experience higher rates of poverty, compared with all families with children under age 18, and this is especially pronounced among families headed by single mothers. (Child Trends)
... including in education
• In most Bay Area Counties less than 50% of children are reading proficiently at 3rd grade (CA DOE)
• Adults living in poverty are more likely to have lower levels of education compared with adults living above the poverty line (Child Trends)
• The danger: A growing body of research has established that poverty prevents children from succeeding in school, that school failure means lifelong struggles, and that declining economic mobility is locking children in poverty like their parents (UWBA)
Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families Conference –
October 15, 2014
And… We know how to solve it
• Meet people’s basic needs
• Ensure educational success from 0-18 and beyond
• Ensure good jobs are available and prepare people for them
• Take a two-generation approach (Aspen Ascend Network 2014)
Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families Conference –
October 15, 2014
Rise Together is a Collective Impact initiative to cut Bay Area poverty in half in 10 years
• Over 150 outstanding institutions from government, business, labor, nonprofits, academic, media, other sectors – and growing
• Based on the belief that it will take a critical mass of leaders and a social movement to significantly and sustainably reduce poverty
• An opportunity to work together in a new, more powerful way: a Collective Impact framework: Common Agenda, Shared Measures, Mutually-Reinforcing Activities, Continuous Communication and Backbone Support
Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families Conference –
October 15, 2014
How we will cut poverty:
Use data to establish shared measures and expand/help scale the most powerful service strategies. Ex: Universal preschool, living wage, access to education and basic needs
Advocate for public policies that have high impact. Example: California Homes and Jobs Act, EPIC Caucus
Lift up, support, and expand existing work, leaders, and partnerships that have the greatest impact in cutting poverty
Support a social movement (grassroots and grasstops) that changes the paradigm about poverty
Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families Conference –
October 15, 2014
We developed a plan… and a cadre of leaders
Steering Council
Ann Mathieson, Marin Promise PartnershipAnne Wilson, United Way of the Bay AreaCarla Javits, Roberts Enterprise Development FundDavid Chu, StarbucksDavid Grusky, Stanford University Center on Poverty and InequalityDeborah Alvarez-Rodriguez, Seam InnovationEzra Garrett, PG&EJames Head, San Francisco FoundationJeff Duncan Andrade, San Francisco State UniversityJeffrey Bialik, Catholic Charities CYOJeff Edleson, University of California at Berkeley
Joe Brooks, Policy LinkJohn Gioia, Supervisor Contra Costa CountyJose Cisneros, Treasurer City of San FranciscoJosie Camacho, Alameda County AFL-CIO Central Labor CouncilKathy Gallagher, Contra Costa Department of Employment and Human Services Keith Carson, Supervisor Alameda County Oscar Chavez, Human Service Agency of Sonoma CountyRegina Stanback Stroud, Skyline CollegeSean Randolph, Bay Area CouncilYvette Radford, Kaiser Permanente
Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families Conference –
October 15, 2014
A lot of progress in the first three years:
Created the Roadmap to Cut Poverty Raised $500,000 from the Kresge Foundation Convened a cross-sector Steering Council and recruited 150+ partners (government, business, philanthropy, nonprofit) Held two major events: The Way Forward in 2013 and the Stanford Poverty Report Card launch in 2014 Created the Rise Together brand and launched communications Invested funds in local work in 7 Bay Area counties Won an Achievement Award from the National Association of Counties Conducted a competitive process to select a backbone organization Established a Memorandum of Understanding and Fiscal Sponsorship Agreement between the Steering Council and the Backbone (UWBA)
Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families Conference –
October 15, 2014
What funders can do to promote collective impact:
• Educate/Include
• Inspire
• Foster Backbone support
• Fund intentionally (mutually-reinforcing activities)
• Align [with] other funders and leverage resources
Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families Conference –
October 15, 2014
What funders can do: Educate/Include
Funders can build local capacity to take collective action
• Collective Impact 101 and advanced training (over and over)
• Bring in speakers, pay for research, publish or support relevant briefs
• Build relationships - broker or sponsor meetings among key partners that may not usually interact
• Ensure that the voices of local residents/key populations affected are included, especially those too-often overlooked (“people with learned experience”), and especially into the governance and policy components of the movement
Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families Conference –
October 15, 2014
Note: Funders can inspire:
Funders can help shift the paradigm by:
• Helping communities address the challenges and opportunities that come with encouraging cross-sector partners to advocate and make decisions that benefit the movement as a whole, rather than single organizations and each one’s unique approach
• Challenging themselves and their colleagues to transition from a focus on funding organizations to funding issues
Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families Conference –
October 15, 2014
What funders can do: Foster Backbone support
Funders can convene local partners and generate action
• Support community conversations and convenings, both issue/sector specific and geographic
• Sponsor data collection and reporting that supports collective action
• Seed initial efforts to build the common agenda, shared measures, mutually-reinforcing activities and continuous communication
• Seek additional funding to leverage their investment
• Make and promote longer-term (multi-year) investments
Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families Conference –
October 15, 2014
Note: “To Be or Not To Be” the Backbone
Backbone must be ready to/capable of:
• Establishing and honoring the balance of governance and authority between the backbone and the Steering Council
• Providing organizational infrastructure• Guiding vision and strategy development/execution• Mobilizing fundraising• Establishing a shared measurement system• Building public will and advancing public policy• Performing contractual and fiduciary duties
Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families Conference –
October 15, 2014
What funders can do: Fund intentionally
Funders can target their program funding to support:• Best/evidence-informed practices
• Filling gaps
• Aligned services across the provider community
• “Upstream” investments
• Regular reports on progress and convenings to share successes and challenges
• Note: this may mean changing the way funders hold their own grantees accountable and/or measure their progress
Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families Conference –
October 15, 2014
What funders can do: Bring funders together
Funders can align [with] other funders by:
• Hosting convenings or calls with other funders in the community
• Offering to partner with other funders on services that align with the collective action agenda
• Develop proposals to grow resources by leveraging foundation funds (ex: social impact funds)
Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families Conference –
October 15, 2014
Questions and Comments:
Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families Conference –
October 15, 2014
Thank you!
For more information:Visit www.risetogetherbayarea.org or contact:
James Head, Vice-President of Programs, San Francisco Foundation ([email protected])
Oscar Chavez, Assistant Director, Sonoma County Human Services Department ([email protected])
Christina Arrostuto, Executive [email protected] / 415.808.4450
Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families Conference –
October 15, 2014
