Engaging #funders for relational, collaborative change

At the Fito Network we’ve been reflecting on how nobody seems to really love network fundraising (and maybe even fundraising in general?).

OK, we’re sure there’s a few of you out there who just live for it. 🙃

But for the rest of us — we groan, moan, and postpone “business development”. We tend to outsource it to one or a few people, with the hopes they’ll take the pain away and magically make the money appear so we can focus on the “real” work.

Lately, with great inspiration from our friends at GreaterThan on how we can make conversations and decisions around money more joyful — we’ve begun to rethink that approach.

Network fundraising is hard…

Despite their norm-breaking approaches to social change, networks face huge barriers to accessing resources (shout-out to Collective Mind for the great research).

But we’ve started thinking: what if we stopped seeing funders as money-givers and instead embrace them as core stakeholders in our collective missions?

What if we recognized philanthropic actors as critical leverage points to transform our systems, and worked to engage them as part of our activities — shepherding them along our collective journeys to relate, learn, decide, and celebrate with us together?

We know that getting here requires breaking huge power barriers.

As well as addressing very practical questions, like how funder-grantee relationships can be less transactional, analytical, and administrative-heavy.

But we find it helpful to also keep in mind that funders are, at their core, made up of people. People with the same desires to connect, to play, to be included, and to move us towards a better world.

There are some #networkfunders out there who have been bravely pioneering new approaches, like the Skoll, Small, Oak, Jacobs, Mastercard and Porticus Foundations, to name a few.

Building on these starting points, and responding to many of your requests, the Fito Network has made engaging philanthropy a key pillar of our work — with the goal of increasing investment in #collaborative, #relational, #decentralized, and #systemic approaches to change.

So that more movements, collectives, local ecosystems, and communities of practice can achieve the great work they set out to achieve.

Over the next months we are planning to launch a host of new activities (always in #collaboration with others!) that aim to embrace funders in meaningful learning, connection-building, and co-creative, like:

🪵 Funder Camp-Outs: multi-month journeys around “HOW” to fund networks, movements, ecosystems, and communities of practice.

🪣 Network Investment Sandboxes: guided experimental funding in systemic networks & movements.

🎪 Pitch Tents: open events for funders and network leaders to offer honest feedback and strengthen each others’ approaches (see our previous ones).

🎨 Networks Mosaics: connecting dozens of networks, movements and funders in sectors like food, climate, education — plus maybe eventually health, migration, water, and democracy? — to intricately assemble collective change strategies (read the idea).

What do you think? What else should we be doing? Comment on this post to let us know!

First though, across November we’ll do a second round of our popular funders treehouse — this time in collaboration with our friends at the Global Fund for Community Foundations and their global #shiftthepower campaign.