Leap Update: Gates Schmates
We wish we had a nickel for each time we've had a discussion about helping grantees become high-performance organizations and heard a response like this from a funder: "I get it, but we're not exactly the Gateses or Waltons."
25 October 2017
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This reaction reflects the conventional wisdom that supporting grantee performance is relevant only for foundations with billions of dollars and hundreds of staff members. We have a different view. We’ve seen funders with significant but hardly stratospheric resources help their grantees strengthen disciplines at the core of high performance. The UK’s Blagrave Trust, which we introduced to the Leap community in our July update, is a case in point. It has an endowment of approximately $50 million and only three staff members. And yet Blagrave is punching way above its weight, especially because of its deep commitment to helping nonprofits listen to beneficiaries and act on their insights. |