Africa

Across Africa, collaborative funds are rooted in local leadership and designed to deliver sustainable, system-level change. By embedding government participation and building on trusted, proximate relationships, they create efficient and effective pathways for philanthropic investment. These collaboratives offer donors an opportunity to accelerate progress by channeling resources into structures that are both deeply connected to communities and positioned for scale. With greater investment, they have the potential to unlock transformative impact across the continent.

Group picture of medical professionals.

Resources

  • Research

    The Collaborative Effect: Grantee Perspectives on How Collaborative Funds Work Best

    Collaborative funds are reshaping philanthropy — but how do they work for the organizations they’re created to support? The Collaborative Effect is the most comprehensive analysis to date of grantee experiences with mid-sized collaborative funds across the United States. Led by Vital Impact, Redstone Strategy Group, and Philanthropy Together, with support from the Hewlett Foundation, the study lifts up grantee voices to illuminate what makes collaboratives build trust, shift power, and deliver impact far beyond their size.

  • Research

    The Power of Collaboration at a Time of Volatility in Global Health and Development

    As international aid falters, communities across the Global South face devastating consequences—clinics shuttered, teachers unpaid, and millions of lives expected to be lost. Amid this crisis, philanthropic collaboration has never been more important. Collaboratives are showing their strengths, reimagining global development as more just, resilient, and rooted in local leadership.

  • Research

    Survey of donors to philanthropic collaboratives

    For five years and counting, The Bridgespan Group has analyzed the growth and momentum of the collaborative philanthropy field. We’ve found that effective collaborative giving vehicles offer a compelling opportunity for donors looking to give to a host of social-change issues.

  • Research

    Learning from a decade of collaborative philanthropy

    A look at how donor collaboratives have evolved over time, and how fund leaders and donors can sharpen their strategies today.

  • Research

    The philanthropic collaborative landscape

    Based on survey responses from nearly 200 collaborative giving vehicles, new research from the Bridgespan Group paints a picture of the current landscape and suggests directions forward to grow and strengthen this increasingly important segment of philanthropic giving.

  • Research

    Philanthropic collaborations in Africa and their unique potential

    Philanthropic collaboration across Africa is robust and complex. Donors participate in over 130 collaboratives, more than half of which work exclusively in Africa. Fueling this growth is the continent’s burgeoning prosperity and donors’ growing acknowledgment that they need to work together to forge innovative ways to take on Africa’s biggest challenges.

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