The Potential for Funder Networks to Effectuate Collective Impact

Date01 August 2018
Author
48 ELR 10694 ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REPORTER 8-2018
Having spent the greater part of my professional
life supporting social cha nge through philan-
thropy, I welcome the focus Patience Crowder is
bringing to the potential role of the legal profession and
contract law to enhance the eectiveness of collective
impact strategies. One does not have to spend much time
in traditional philanth ropy before beginning to question
the value of providing yearly funding to va rious organi-
zations for various activities directed at the public good.
is piecemeal approach leaves gaping holes and persistent
questions about impact and fundamental transformation
that are not being adequately addressed in most current
funding approaches. Taking a more comprehensive and
systematic approach makes more sense on the face of it
and, as Crowder states, “has the potential for making
large-scale social change.”1
Crowder eectively summarizes the benets and strat-
egy associated with t he collective impact approach. She
provides an interesting and comprehensive collec tive
impact framework and an analysis of the values and risks
in collective impact. However, as Crowder points out, “[a]
s a strategy for social cha nge, collective impact houses an
unquantiable and unique value yet to be fully realized.”2
I hope to contribute to the discussion this paper initiates
by utilizing my history of phila nthropic work to oer some
insights into why this exciting approach is yet to be ful ly
realized, and then to oer some suggestions about how
Crowder’s work could be directed most usefully toward
the philanthropic community, where I think many of
the problems lie. is paper does an important serv ice in
explaining and attempting to improve upon the history of
contract law and its adaptability to collective impact ac tiv-
1. Patience A. Crowder, Impact Transaction: Lawyering for the Public Good
rough Collective Impact Agreements, 49 I. L. R.. 621, 621 (2016).
2. Id. at 646.
ity. Crowder encourages an expansion in thinking about
contract law and describes how it could contribute to col-
lective impact approache s.
In most cities and regions, a collective impact approach
needs both nancial a nd intellectual capital from a founda-
tion or foundations. Crowder describes the variety of roles
that can be and are played by fu nders and other support-
ers of collective impact initiatives (CIIs). However, because
there are many dierent kinds of foundations, a nd because
the amount of funding and the leadership necessary to
bring a group of foundations together to pursue a common
goal is not insignicant, CIIs also require an expansion in
thinking on the part of foundations. Crowder addresses
this problem, acknowledging that “paradigm shifts” have
occurred or must occur in phila nthropic, nonprot, gov-
ernmental, and commercial spheres as a result of the rising
prominence of c ollective impact str ategies.
All foundations operate in unique ways, with dier-
ent and often multiple objectives. ey embody dierent
ideas about the roles of their sta, have diering amounts
of available funding, and have their own prevailing insti-
tutional constraints. ere are la rge, national foundations
such as the Ford Foundation, operating foundations such
e Pew Charitable Trusts, regional foundations such as
the W.K. Kellog g Foundation, corporate found ations,
community foundations, family foundations—both large
and small—a nd even networks of foundations that operate
in geographic and/or subject areas.
Crowder lists three signicant roles that funders
including private foundations, public c harities, and busi-
ness enterprises—play in CIIs. ey are often looked to,
rst, for nancial support for the initiative’s underlying
infrastruct ure or management body; second, for advisory
help and information about the particular issue being
addressed; and third, for contacts to other foundations,
various forms of expertise, technical support, and guid-
COMMENT
The Potential for Funder Networks
to Effectuate Collective Impact
by Kristin A. Pauly
Kristin A. Pauly is a co-founder of the Chesapeake Bay Funders Network, and served
as the Managing Director of Prince Charitable Trusts for 17 years.
Copyright © 2018 Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, DC. Reprinted with permission from ELR®, http://www.eli.org, 1-800-433-5120.

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