Philanthropists Embrace Collaborative Funding to Multiply Their Impact

credit: John Peter Lee, Ltd.

"It is incredible, but I would say that we still have only scratched the surface," says Nancy Roob, CEO of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, a New York-based charity that in 2015 launched Blue Meridian Partners, a platform that allows philanthropists and funders to invest in social change together.

"I think there is more opportunity to innovate and get more capital to these important causes," says Roob, who notes that the foundation originally focused on issues related to youth social mobility and the transition to adulthood, but decided to "get more capital off the sidelines" and expand its focus to issues affecting all Americans, including health, education, and justice.

Among its partners are multibillion-dollar endowments such as the William and Flora Foundation and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies.

This year, BMP hit $4 billion in allocated capital, and it now directs hundreds of millions of dollars in giving each year.

The Guardian reports that research by the Bridgespan Group shows that since 2010, the number of funder collaboratives with assets larger than $1 billion has doubled, with more than $3 billion invested in non-profits and social movements by 2022.

Another funder collaborative, Farming the Future, a UK-based funder focused on making the industrial food system more sustainable

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