How is the Funders Collaborative Hub making a difference?

The aim of the Funders Collaborative Hub is to help funders achieve more together. But what does this look like in practice?

This blog shares the progress we’re making towards the Hub’s four objectives for 2023:

1. Be the go-to source for information on funder collaboration opportunities
2. Enable diverse funders to make new connections that help them take action to advance their work more effectively, equitably and inclusively
3. Identify and champion collaborative funder practices that are effective, equitable and inclusive, and share tools and resources to enable these
4. Plot a clear pathway towards the Hub’s integration as a sustainable part of ACF’s role in the charitable giving ecosystem

The go-to source for funder collaboration opportunities

The Hub currently shares information about:

• 107 existing collaborations – including many that previously had no information about them in the public domain
• 34 emerging opportunities to start collaborating
• Past collaborations that are continuing to use the Hub to share learning and resources with other funders.

These collaboration opportunities relate to more than 40 different issues and include activity in every English region and devolved UK nation, as well as many UK-wide and international opportunities.

We recently improved our process and guidance for adding opportunities to the Hub, and we’re meeting our target of four new opportunities being added per month. Our collaboration opportunity search page is visited more than 1,400 times per month, and between January and June 2023 there were more than 19,000 page views of individual collaboration opportunities.

Bringing together all this information has given us a unique overview of the landscape of funder collaboration. By sharing and exploring our data about where, how, and on what issues funders are collaborating, we aim to generate new insights about the gaps or connections between their work, enabling better-informed funder action. So far this year, we’ve published two blogs exploring the Hub’s data:

• How did funders work together last year – and what’s next for the Hub?
• More than just pooled funds: the seven ways funders are collaborating

Making new connections and taking action

Through our regular contact with the collaboration leaders who share opportunities on the Hub, we’ve been able to learn about the progress of their collaborative activities and the impact of new connections made.

A global peer network of mental health funders, the Future Mental Health Collective is an existing collaboration which has benefited from its increased visibility since sharing its work on the Hub – including through a case study, Humans at the heart.

Collaboration leader Gaia Brignone said: “We’ve already had several funders reach out about joining our collective because they saw it on the Funders Collaborative Hub.”

The Climate Activist Speaker Fund was set up to pilot a new mechanism for supporting young climate activists to deliver effective messaging. Originally sharing the idea on the Hub as an emerging collaboration opportunity, collaboration leader Sarah Bradley invited funders to contribute to a pooled fund and take part in the learning process.

With the fund now up and running, Sarah said: “Thank you for the Hub’s incredible support in amplifying our pilot fund. This platform has helped to spark so many new connections, including to one of our major funders.”

Opportunities shared on the Hub don’t always have to lead to formal collaborations. Sometimes, a few conversations with fellow travellers about shared areas of interest can be enough for funders to take better informed action.

Chris Johnes wanted to connect with other funders to share learning and avoid duplication as the Building Communities Trust explored ways of helping community organisations in Wales to become more financially robust.

Chris told us: “We made some useful connections from sharing our idea on the Hub, and have used them to strengthen our thinking about a new programme we are planning to launch.”

For more in-depth stories of funders whose opportunities shared on the Hub led to new collaborations, read our case studies:

• Light on bureaucracy, heavy on impact (Continuo Foundation)
• From conversations to collaborations (Unite Foundation)

Championing effective collaboration

Our collection of more than 20 case studies explores the impact and learning from a wide range of different types of funder collaboration. So far this year, our case studies have been viewed an average of 228 times per month.

In April, we restructured and relaunched our funder collaboration toolkit. Designed to be practical and interactive, the toolkit includes downloadable and editable templates that funders can use as they work through the typical steps involved in developing a collaboration.

We’ve published two blogs based on what we learned while developing the toolkit:

• Six steps to developing an effective funder collaboration
• Top tips for funder collaborations

We’ve also curated guest blogs offering diverse perspectives on how funders can collaborate more effectively, equitably and inclusively:

• What do grant-seeking charities think about funder collaboration?
• A ‘scaling mindset’: five ways funders can collaborate for impact at scale

Integrating and sustaining the Hub

The Hub is hosted by the Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF), the leading membership association for foundations and independent grant-makers in the UK. ACF’s member survey has given us new insights into foundations’ experience of collaboration and using the Hub.

In 2021 (shortly before we launched the current Hub website), this survey revealed foundations’ widespread interest in collaboration: 59% of respondents had either led or participated in collaborative activities with other funders, while 38% said that they had not yet collaborated but were interested in doing so.

In our 2023 survey, the proportion who had led or participated in collaborations had increased significantly, to 75%. The largest increase was in those stating that they had led or shaped collaborations: 36% of respondents, compared to 21% in 2021.

Of those who identified themselves as collaboration leaders, 62% had used the Hub in some way over the previous year.

This year, ACF has launched a new five-year strategy, with a vision of diverse, vibrant and effective foundations working together for social good. The strategy sets out to:

• Support foundations to aspire to and achieve excellent practice
• Advance diversity, equity and inclusion for our sector and for ACF
• Strengthen connections across and beyond the sector
• Sustain a landscape where foundations can continue to thrive.

These priorities were informed using learning from the Hub and ACF’s extensive engagement with stakeholders who highlighted the importance of collaboration both within and beyond the foundation sector.

Working with our Strategy Group and colleagues across ACF, we have now begun developing plans for how the Hub can evolve over the next two years, to strengthen and sustain its impact on these strategic goals in the long term.  I look forward to sharing more about these plans as they take shape over the coming months.

Follow our progress

Every month we openly publish our dashboard showing how the Hub is performing against our targets. We always welcome feedback on what we're doing well, or how we could improve the Hub - get in touch to tell us what you think.