The Collaboration Circle is not the first time you’ve brought funders and partners together. What is different this time?  

Anyone familiar with London Funders will know how much collaboration is key to our mission and we’ve really tried to put that into practice over the years. We’ve learned so much from bringing funders together through the London Community Response and Propel, about what it takes to really create a shared vision for that collaboration, but also the detail of how you put it into practice. And sometimes that can be messy – it’s not always straightforward, and sometimes the systems we bring with us hamper progress. Even if the will is there to work together, organisational cultures, processes and restrictions can make it hard to put this into action.  

But alongside those process elements, we also know the funding system as a whole remains imbalanced – we still need to shift the dial in terms of how we work with civil society, and bring in their expertise much earlier on. This has all been an important driver in getting the Collaboration Circle off the ground and why it feels different this time – with a Board of Directors drawn in equal number from funders and civil society, and a commitment to mirror this split in each funding collaboration that is established.  

I think there is also a sense of urgency here. We cannot ignore the scale of the shared challenges we face – the climate emergency, the rise in poverty, the persistent inequalities some communities experience…We need to rethink how we respond as funders. And to do this we have incredible shared resources between us – and that’s not just the financial ones, but communities’ expertise & knowledge about the solutions. If we want to be more strategic in how we act, we need to embed this in our approach, and that’s a key motivation for setting up the Collaboration Circle in this way.  

So why pooled funds? Can you tell us a bit about how this is different from other models of collaboration?  

Pooling funds is where multiple funders put money into a shared ‘pot’. They usually do this as they are all trying to achieve a similar goal, and so pooling money provides a way to be more strategic and impactful with their investment.   

There are many examples from around the world where, through pooling funds, funders are able to act differently – particularly in ways that would be too risky for them to undertake alone. For example pooling money helps funders to tackle an issue at scale, and operate outside of their normal financial constraints (and if you want to know more, I’d highly recommend dipping into the recent report from JRF which explored the use of pooled funds across the UK). We also think there is huge scope to benefit from the expertise and knowledge brought by those who are collaborating  – so it’s not just about pooling money, but also the people. And that’s also been reflected in the way we’ve set up the Collaboration Circle, with the input of civil society baked in at every level.  

What sort of collaborations are you hoping will use the Collaboration Circle?  

What’s exciting is that we’re not bound by geography, scale or focus for these funding collaborations. So the opportunities really are endless. What’s important is that the collaborations which are hosted in this space reflect its principles– the desire to be more equitable, to learn, and to test new ways of working. We’ve already had some great conversations with funders who have traditionally found it hard to pool funding – such as public sector funders due to the constraints they face from reporting and financial cycles. They see this as an opportunity to enter more cross sector partnerships. We’d love to see partners from different sectors coming together, but equally it will be a space for existing partnerships who want to build on their work.  

What’s your advice to a funder who wants to explore the use of pooled funds?  

Start a conversation! It doesn’t matter whether or not you’ve pooled funding before, or if you’re unsure what you can commit to a pooled fund. What’s important is being up for learning with others about how funding can work differently. We’d love to hear your ideas, so get in touch.