When I interviewed to join EFN I was two weeks postpartum and extremely sleep-deprived. As such, I don’t have the clearest memory, but I do distinctly remember discussing my desire for improvement in the way funders and fundraisers connect, an issue that has been on my mind for many years.
In my previous roles I have both raised funds and distributed them. I have worked overtime to meet tight application deadlines and spent hours reworking the same information for different funders, only to never hear back. I have seen the toll that heavy reporting requirements can take on wellbeing, and the wasteful loss of brilliant projects and their teams when funding shifts to new priorities. I have also seen firsthand how difficult it is for local groups without prior connections – or those not fluent in English – to access funding, despite their often-disproportionate impact.
Covering Natasha’s role over the past year and working with members of our Green Fundraisers Forum (GFF), I have heard these same challenges echoed repeatedly. There are so many incredible environmental groups around the world and inspiring funders working hard to support them, but there are many areas of ineffectiveness in the interactions between the two. This ineffectiveness is costly for everyone, and ultimately reduces the impact that we, as a sector, can have. This is why, in early 2024, we set out to understand these challenges better and begin exploring solutions.
Through an interactive session and survey, we asked the GFF:
- What challenges have you experienced over the past 18 months?
- Can you provide examples of funders working to address these challenges?
- What other solutions can you envisage to these challenges?
The answers to these questions (thank you to all who provided them) formed the basis of our new report ‘Increasing the effectiveness of environmental funder-fundraiser relationships’. In it we detail 20 reported challenges paired with existing or potential solutions. These challenges fall under four categories: funding availability, grant applications, grant management, and collaboration and coordination:
We then go on to pull out six cross-cutting, broad recommendations for funders which, if followed, would see many of the challenges addressed naturally:
- Focus on people and outcomes rather than projects and outputs
- Underpin all behaviour with trust and flexibility
- Make decisions based on a combination of long-term thinking and urgency
- Design application and reporting processes carefully & relax requirements where feasible
- Collaborate as much as possible
- Create and embrace opportunities to hear from grantholders
While we recognise that not all funders will be able to implement all the solutions suggested, we hope that our report can aid progress and encourage more ambitious approaches. One of the best ways to progress as a sector is to share knowledge and learn from others. To facilitate this, in the report we also highlight several funders repeatedly cited as leading the way in adopting some of the recommended approaches. We encourage these funders to share their experiences as much as possible and urge others to build upon their progress where they can.
Our overarching goal in undertaking this work was to catalyse conversation and foster dialogue between environmental funders and fundraisers on these challenges. From the feedback received, it would appear we have indeed sparked conversation, but this report is only the first step. In October we hosted a wonderful event bringing funders and fundraisers together to discuss the findings and we hope to run similar events. We are also planning a parallel piece of research next year on the challenges facing environmental funders. If you are a funder and would like to be involved in this work, please get in touch at sophia@greenfunders.org.
As I rambled on about in my interview, achieving the systemic change we are all hoping for will be much easier and quicker if we can increase the effectiveness of interactions between funders and fundraisers. From simplifying applications to increasing contributions to pooled funds, our report details numerous ways in which funders can improve the effectiveness of their relationships with fundraisers. In our next report, I hope we can offer similarly clear guidance for fundraisers. Supported by the ever-generous nature of our funder and fundraiser networks, we are well-placed at EFN to shine a torch on this area, and I am excited to see what the next year brings.