What does it truly take for funders to nurture equitable systems change?

By: Don Gips, Lija McHugh Farnham, Emma Nothmann and Kevin Crouch

In mission-driven circles, systems-change work – which is focused on the root causes of problems – is sometimes treated like an unattainable dream. But it doesn’t have to be.

In studying successful equitable social-change efforts there are pivotal organisations, often working behind the scenes, that are the key to progress. This category of social-change makers is known by different names – we call them ‘field catalysts’ or ‘systems orchestrators’ – but what the organisations do is more important. Namely, these actors serve as a kind of nerve centre for the matrix of activity that is necessary to transform inequitably designed systems. They do this by driving and harmonizing the multifaceted work of myriad actors devoted to a common issue or social problem, often including diagnosing and assessing the core problem and ecosystem working on it; galvanizing, connecting, and organizing the field around a shared aim; and advocating for the issue and those working on it.

For instance, millions of Africans die from treatable illnesses like malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhea because of lack of access to essential health care. Hoping to change that, Financing Alliance for Health (FAH) is an African-based and led partnership that works with governments, donors and the private sector to address systemic financing challenges to scaling community health programs across sub-Saharan Africa. To complement the in-country work with Ministries of Health and Finance, FAH advocates for the prioritization of community health and more effective funding mechanisms for integrated community health services at global levels. So far FAH has successfully partnered with 18 governments across 12 countries to develop national community health strategies and financing pathways, the organization has also helped secure more than $200 million in financing for at-scale community health systems, and has contributed to the official recognition of more than 415,000 Community Health Workers.

Results like that are why we at the Skoll Foundation (Skoll) and The Bridgespan Group (Bridgespan) see a huge opportunity for philanthropy to support systems orchestrators/field catalysts more deeply and expansively^[1]. Given the scale of impact these organisations are helping drive, it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which the big, audacious goals that civil society has set for ourselves can be achieved without them.

To learn about the challenges these critical social-change makers face, and the ways in which they believe funders can help, Bridgespan surveyed about 100 field catalysts and interviewed more than 40 leaders working on a variety of issues, including health equity, gender-based violence, climate change, and education.

The research indicates one key truth: systems orchestrators/field catalysts are among the highest-leverage investments philanthropy can make when it comes to equitable systems change.

Skoll has learned this first-hand, taking a growing understanding of social entrepreneurs and innovators and systems change and acting on the learnings in important ways. For example, after seeing an increasing number of former Skoll Award for Social Innovation awardees shift their focus beyond their own organisation to changing the whole field, the foundation expanded its support to include social innovators working across sectors. Systems orchestrators/field catalysts are one example of social innovators. Furthermore, because the work is often not easy to measure using traditional tools, Skoll has revamped its evaluation and learning process to focus on shared outcomes, signals of progress, and ‘contribution’ instead of ‘attribution’.

This recognition of the importance of systems orchestrators/field catalysts led Skoll to the work of AMAN (The Alliance of Indigenous Peoples of the Archipelago) in Indonesia, one of the winners of this year’s Skoll Award for Social Innovation. AMAN, a network of 20 million Indigenous Peoples on the frontlines of protecting some of the most important carbon reserves on the planet, is betting that a just and prosperous life for Indigenous Peoples will have climate benefits for everyone.

Indonesia has the third largest area of tropical forests in the world. But the deforestation and burning of hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest for palm oil and mining concessions makes the nation one of the world’s ten largest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions. One of the most cost-effective ways to reduce the emissions that are causing climate change is to ensure that the guardianship of the world’s forests stays in the hands of Indigenous Peoples’ communities – deforestation rates are two to three times lower than outside their lands.

By tirelessly building relationships to organise almost 2,500 diverse Indigenous Peoples’ communities along shared goals, AMAN has successfully facilitated the government recognition of three million hectares of Indigenous Peoples’-held land or approximately 15 per cent of their ancestral forests. It has also shepherded the mapping of 20 million hectares of Indigenous People’s territories – the first step to prevent land grabbing, and its advocacy and education work has helped increase the number of local regulations that support Indigenous Peoples’ land rights from just two to 159. Deforestation in Indonesia reached a record low in 2020. That is not only progress for Indigenous Peoples, or Indonesia, but progress for all of us across the world.

However, despite their impact, systems orchestrators/field catalysts are persistently underfunded, with most needing to raise between half to twice their current budget. Still, because these organisations consistently punch far above their weight, 87 per cent of field catalysts believe they would achieve their systems-change goals within just two decades if provided the necessary resources and consistent support.

These social-change makers reported facing four common challenges:

• Talent Constraints: Fifty-seven per cent report that they struggle with significant internal capacity issues.
• Measuring Impact: Nearly half said they found it difficult to measure their impact for funders. Systems change is a multi-decade effort and field catalysts need to rely on a variety of measurement indicators that reflect the scope of progress of the field.
• Finding Balance: About half described difficulty balancing the work – having to deal with the urgency of the existential threats while also raising enough funding for the next year, for example.
• Lack of Sufficient, Long-term, Flexible Funding: As one interviewee said, ‘Being behind the scenes is lethal from a fundraising perspective. How do you tell your story when the story is by design invisible?’ Of course, the challenge of funding can exacerbate and amplify all the other challenges.

Talking to these social change leaders reveals that funder behaviour does matter. By intentionally creating the conditions that enable a systems orchestrator/field catalyst to thrive, funders can shift the odds in favour of lasting population-level change. Most importantly, providing flexible capital is a necessity for these organisations to do this type of evolving work well. There is evidence that large, unrestricted, multiyear grants can be transformative for these organizations because complex problems take adaptative approaches and extended time to solve.

According to these leaders, there are also other ways funders can help. When it comes to grantmaking, funders can provide support to build organisational capacity and ongoing sustainability. They can also reduce or remove burdensome reporting requirements, and nurture the genius within their existing portfolios by giving leadership development support.

Given the challenges of funding for this multifaceted work, funders might open their networks to connect systems orchestrators with other funders. And they can use their voices to raise the visibility of issues these organisations are working on. This use of funder’s social capital can be especially beneficial for local leaders across Africa and Asia where we have seen the work with policymakers and government officials play such a critical role.

Equitable systems change does not have to be a dream deferred. These organisations overwhelmingly believe they would achieve their systems-change goals within just two decades if provided the necessary resources and consistent support. It is a sign that, as complex as the problems are, as difficult as the work is to overcome them, as far away as the finish line may seem, there is a pathway to get there. Notably, the median funding gap of how much field catalysts in our dataset say they need annually to fulfil their mission is $2.5 million. That means closing that funding gap could be a relative bargain, considering the inroads these efforts can make to building a society characterized by equity and justice.

Don Gips is the CEO of the Skoll Foundation. Lija McHugh Farnham and Emma Nothmann are partners at The Bridgespan Group where Kevin Crouch is a manager. They lead Bridgespan’s work on equitable systems change through field building and supporting field catalysts and are co-authors of Funding Field Catalysts from Origins to Revolutionizing the World, research that was done in collaboration with Skoll.

Orginal article: https://www.alliancemagazine.org/blog/what-does-it-truly-take-for-funders-to-nurture-equitable-systems-change/