126 - Flipping the script on how funders collaborate: embedding and measurement and learning in how we work together

Abstract Information: This Think Tank will address the urgent issue of climate change by flipping the script on how funders collaborate. Climate change is a wicked problem that must be confronted through systems and transformational change – this can’t be achieved by organizations working alone. To make progress, we must create and sustain successful collaboratives that center justice and equity and embed measurement and learning in their collaborative efforts. The think tank will focus on what it takes to both provide evidence and tell stories that move us all forward - and help foundations tell internal stories that can enhance their own engagement in learning work.

We don’t have time to learn individually – as practitioners or as organizations – so we must learn together. Participants will share their experiences and knowledge to explore what it takes to grow the field of climate MEL. We will examine examples of successful collaboratives, learn from failures, and discuss practical strategies and tools for creating and sustaining effective collaborative efforts. We will also explore how funders can move beyond traditional metrics of success, such as outputs and outcomes, and instead focus on broader measures of impact and progress.

This Think Tank will create an open and inclusive space where all participants can learn from one another. Through facilitated discussions and breakout sessions, all participants will share their insights and experiences and join in creating a broader story for the field. Our goal is to develop a vibrant community of practice, where participants can engage in ongoing discussions, share resources, and continue to learn from one another beyond this think tank.

While the session is centered on climate change, the ideas we’ll be discussing are relevant to cross-organizational learning collaboration in other sectors.

Relevance Statement: Tackling climate change requires new thinking – thinking both outside of and beyond the organizational boxes we are too often expected to remain largely within. It also requires more skilled people and, in particular, more skilled practitioners who can help funders and implementers design strategies, measure progress, show impact, evaluate and learn. We need to go beyond telling the stories of organizations’ progress and successes – we need to collaboratively create and tell and share stories that help the field learn.

It’s exciting and heartening that more and more funders are interested in supporting work on climate change mitigation. At the same time, this means that there are more and more organizations entering the climate mitigation space who don’t (yet) have deep experience in climate mitigation work. The urgency of the climate crisis makes it urgent to support a wide variety of funder and implementer organizations to design effective strategies, measure progress and impact, evaluate and learn from their work – and efficiently and effectively share that learning with others. That brings us back again to the need for skilled practitioners who can work within and across organizations.

The session organizers all have experience as internal evaluators at foundations that work on climate change. They have seen the power of collaboration across funders and have felt the power of co-learning across organizations. They have conducted joint evaluations and led co-learning. They have mentored and supported practitioners who are new to climate and/or new to philanthropy. During the last year, they have been working together and with others to bring these elements together and launch a community of practice for climate strategy, impact and MEL that incorporates funder staff, implementer staff, and consultants. The community is designed both to support member capacity and to create a platform for shared learning work.

This session will engage participants in thinking about how they can work across organizational boundaries to create co-learning spaces, share resources, and help build linkages among participants. The brief mini-presentations that we will use to set up the discussions draw from literature and practice in systems change and transformational change, Blue Marble Evaluation, and our combined decades of experience. Small group discussions will support participants to explore expanding audiences for learning within and across organizations and to examine using meaningful impact measures that go beyond how we often think about organizational outcomes.