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Image from 2001: A Space Odyssey
Join us in London on the 24th January
We're fizzing with excitement about running our first 'Fundamentals of Modern Grantmaking' training workshop. It’s going to be a chance to develop your own skills across a range of grantmaking areas, and meet new grantmakers at the same time. Some of the interactive exercises we’ve developed have even been making us laugh out loud, and we think you'll enjoy them too. So whatever your position is within a funder, this one is for you. See here for more info and how to book.
Schmoozing or losing? Some Dos and Don'ts
It is a historical fact* that mere moments after the first prehistoric grantmaker handed out their first two grants of mammoth meat, the following thought was born: “Wouldn’t it be awesome if I could connect Ugg and Gar together! They could become great partners, and I would feel like more than just a human cash machine!”
Wanting to connect grantees together is a common and laudable instinct, whether felt by grantmakers ancient and modern. After all, who doesn’t meet people they consider to be amazing, inspiring and impressive and think “I’d love for these people to meet each other!” It’s the insight that lies behind most good parties, after all.
But connecting grantees to one another can, like so many things in life, be done both really well and really badly. And, oh my, connecting grantees to one another is easy to get wrong.
So here are some simple Dos and Don’ts for the next time you decide that the time has come to introduce your grantees to each other.
DO ask your grantees whether they’d like to be connected to other grantees before you design or deliver your event. If they say yes, ask them what they would and wouldn't like from this encounter. Then, after collecting their ideas, write down a precise description of what your exact goals are before you actually do any event planning: this will help keep you on track.
DON’T assume that a face to face networking event in some shiny room is definitely what your grantees want. They might love the efficiency of a quick and tightly hosted Zoom gathering, or they might actually prefer you to make some personal email intros to other grantees, so they can then have one-to-ones in their own time.
DO tell invited guests very clearly that it is strictly optional to attend, and that their choice not to attend will have no impact on their relationship with you or their chances of future funding. Taking the time to attend your event might cause them huge problems back at the ranch: don’t be the type of grantmaker that forces them to come because they don't dare tell you how much of a pain this will be.
DON’T spend loads of time in the room telling the attendees about your funder’s amazing achievements or grand forthcoming plans, unless they will directly impact on your grantee's ability to succeed.
DO understand that some of your guests will already know each other and will magnetically cluster together, potentially excluding the people who don't know anyone. So you will very likely have to do something deliberate to get attendees to actually meet new people. So consider running speed dating at work exercises or asking several guests to give 5 minute lightning talks about their work. If in doubt, ask your guests what they like before time!
DON’T cram a speed dating exercise into a small sliver of time, compressing all the genuinely ‘meeting new people’ time into a short and overcrowded part of the event. Try to come up with more than one way of helping people to talk to people they don’t know, and give that lots of space and time to happen.
DO make sure people can easily work out who is who at your event. Nice, BIG, clear name badges will help (double-sided if using lanyards), and if any attendees are visually impaired make sure there’s someone available to help them identify who they want to talk to.
DON’T explain your new funder strategy in painful levels of detail especially if you didn’t ask the people in the room what they thought before it was signed off.
DO explain to everyone who is invited how they can get to talk to you about the future of their funding separately to this event (so they feel they can relax and not have to spend the whole event trying to collar you about money).
DON’T expect people to come from far away without paying for their travel. Include a clear offer to pay in your original invitation. For smaller organisations you should also consider paying for their time: yes, even if you’ve given them a grant.
DO consider giving people decent food so they both feel appreciated and so they can focus on other people, not their own hunger or how they're going to find something to eat afterwards. And ask for their dietary requirements, obvs.
DON’T confuse one of these 'connect the grantee' gatherings with a strategy day or other type of event where you're trying to get something from your attendees. And never create silly new burdens for your grantees: don’t insist that the grantees come together to ‘create something new’ or 'create new partnerships'. They all have their own individual needs and goals, some of which will benefit from meeting peers, some of which won't. Treat your guests like adults and let them work out what it is they want from others.
DO make sure that any facilitator you use can be really trusted with this type of unusual, non-business event. Nobody can waste more nonprofit people's precious time than the wrong facilitator. Oh lordy.
So that's our list of Dos and Don’ts for running events that connect grantees with each other. If you’ve got any other favourite (or least favourite) practices at this sort of event, please drop us a mail or share them on social media - if you @ us we’ll share!
* Fact check: actually we made this up.
What we've been reading
- In scentific research, misconduct (i.e making up results) can be a real problem. Here's an interesting study about what happens to the grant funding of scientists who get caught.
- Want some practical examples about how foundations in Germany and Switzerland have been trying to reduce burdens for their grantees? Then check out ‘Weniger ist Mehr’ or ‘Less is More’, a new guide developed by a brilliant network of german-speaking grantmaking reformers. An English version is available here and Karsten Timmer explains it all in a piece published in Alliance magazine.
- Are you a podcast fan? Ever listen to the wildly popular This American Life? Turns out that a $150k grant offer from the MacArthur Foundation had a key part to play in its early history.
- We're always fascinated by funding organisations that give their staff long-term but time-limited employment contracts. We knew Hewlett Foundation did it (it's in our book), but this post from a senior program officer at the Ford Foundation suggests they operate some kind of fixed eight year term. We'd LOVE for one of these institutions to publish more on why they operate these policies, and whether or not they seem to work. Can anyone out there nudge them to do this? Bonus: there's a US grantmaker job ad in there, too. Talking of which...
How about a new job?
The Wikimedia Foundation, which publishes Wikipedia, is looking for a Lead Program Officer for North Western Europe. This could be a great job for someone into participatory grantmaking, as they're really serious about that.
The Clothworkers’ Foundation is looking for a Learning and Development Manager. This role is hybrid, with at least 2 days a week in their City of London office. Applications close 12.00pm 13 January.
WINGS is looking for a new Global Memberships Assistant. WINGS is a global network of philanthropy support and development organisations. This is a full-time consultant position. The role can be based anywhere as long as the successful candidate is willing to overlap with Africa, Europe, and Brazil's working hours. Applications close on 15 January.
Yorkshire news! Two Ridings Community Foundation is looking for a new CEO. Applications close 9.00am 23 January.
MADRE, an international women's human rights organization and feminist fund, is looking for an Emergency Grants Associate. This is a remote US-based role. Applications close on 30 January.
Do you know we offer consultancy support for funder strategy reviews?
We’ve been working with a variety of grantmaking organisations to help them either renew their strategies, or develop totally new ones if they didn't have them before.
For some clients, all we're doing is helping lead them through a process where they do all the deep work and we help them keep on track. For others, we’ve actually done a lot of the core work such as facilitating key meetings, and doing lots of research into what should go into the strategy.
We’re both a bit obsessed with strategy reviews, hence dedicating a whole chapter to this topic in our book! Funders without a decent strategy are incredibly prone to drift. So, if you might be interested in discussing how we could help with your strategy review (or your brand new startup strategy), please get in touch.
Who writes this newsletter?
Gemma Bull and Tom Steinberg run Modern Grantmaking, and write this newsletter. We do consulting and training specifically for funders, and wrote a book on how to be a modern grantmaker, too.
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