Bridgespan Resources

• Locate collaboratives through Bridgespan’s annually updated Philanthropic Collaborations Database.
• Lean into collaboratives that find and close resourcing gaps in the most impacted communities. See how aggregated funds allow donors to hit an “easy button” in Four Pathways to Greater Giving.
• Learn how the most effective collaborative funds center grantee needs, which leads to better outcomes, in “Centering the Grantee Experience: A Path to Differentiation for Intermediary Funds.”
• Fund flexibly and for the long term. Learn more about the five assets—both financial and nonfinancial—that donors can deploy to support their grantees in “From Capital to Connections: Aligning Donor Strengths With Nonprofit Needs.” Learn more about funding systems-change efforts in "What Philanthropists Can Learn From Field Catalysts About Measuring Progress on Systems Change."
• Support civil society and lean into government partnerships. Learn more about public-sector collaboration in "How Asian Philanthropists Work With Governments: A View from the Field."
• Learn from existing efforts in Releasing the Potential of Philanthropic Collaborations.

Sharpening the Focus of This Report

Despite the breadth of the existing literature, our review found that needed was a deeper exploration of the perspective and lived realities of donors themselves—how they are responding to ODA declines, what constraints they face, and what factors may be driving hesitation or “paralysis.” We also saw an opportunity to elevate concrete, illustrative case studies that demonstrate how funders or systems have successfully adapted in the past and forward-looking ideas that point toward structural transformation in global funding systems. This shaped the focus of our report, The Power of Collaboration at a Time of Volatility in Global Health and Development: to explore donor mindsets and decision making, identify the barriers to bold philanthropic action, and surface actionable opportunities and examples that can guide the sector toward more innovative, collaborative, and resilient approaches in the post-ODA landscape.

Key Themes from the Literature Review

Across nearly 50 reviewed articles, reports, and opinion pieces, the dominant themes center on both the scale and implications of the decline in official development assistance (ODA) funding. The literature consistently documents the magnitude of funding cuts, identifying which countries, programs, and organizations are most affected, and emphasizes that philanthropy alone cannot compensate for the resulting gaps. Many sources underscore the importance of empowering local leadership and fostering partnerships to ensure sustainable outcomes, while others highlight opportunities for reform that would enhance self-reliance among governments. Common threads also include critiques of fragmented coordination among funders, governments, and the private sector, along with calls for more collaboration and longer-term systems thinking in funding strategies. Overall, the literature provides a rich overview of the problem’s scope and existing policy discourse, focusing on describing and diagnosing the issue rather than reimagining solutions.

Selected Readings from the Field

Many other practitioners, advisers, and funders have contributed to the dialogue around philanthropic collaboration specifically at this time of volatility. The following pieces of writing were indispensable to our research.

“How Funder Collaboratives Are Supporting Proximate Organizations in Africa” (Atti Worku, Degan Ali, and David Bowermaster, Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2025)

This Stanford Social Innovation Review piece profiles how Africa’s philanthropic collaboratives are centering “proximate” organizations—those closest to communities—in the wake of funding volatility. It notes that African collaboratives remain underfunded relative to their peers (60 percent have budgets under $10 million), despite a robust, growing field (131 collaborations, most founded since 2010). The article argues that collaboratives’ local focus, participatory grantmaking, and independent implementation help donors move flexible capital quickly to front-line groups, a need underscored by the early 2025 US Agency for International Development stop-work order and crises such as that in Sudan. It emphasizes building country-level mechanisms that route funds directly to local nongovernmental organizations, reducing structural barriers and power imbalances while enabling more resilient, community-led solutions.

“The Power of Funder Collaboratives to Advance Global Health” (Alice Kang’ethe, Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2025)

Kang’ethe argues that funder collaboratives can meaningfully accelerate governments’ efforts to eliminate preventable health problems by pooling capital and know-how around clear, scalable solutions. She presents two cases: the Beginnings Fund, which plans to raise $500 million by the end of 2025 to support maternal-newborn survival across up to 10 African countries by investing in proven “hardware” (e.g., antibiotics, point-of-care ultrasound, continuous positive airway pressure machines, Kangaroo Mother Care) and “software” (workforce training, data systems); and the Reaching the Last Mile Fund, which partnered with the government of Niger to help secure World Health Organization certification of Niger’s elimination of river blindness transmission. Kang’ethe argues that philanthropy cannot replace state capacity but can, through collaboratives, amplify government will and systems to deliver routine, lifesaving care at the national or regional scale.

“Local Leaders Are Driving Systems Change. Philanthropy Must Follow” (Olivia Leland, Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2025)

Leland argues that amid shrinking foreign assistance and rising crises, the most durable progress is being led by locally rooted organizations that work within public systems to shift policies, unlock domestic resources, and embed change. However, these actors still receive only a tiny share of funding directly. She urges philanthropy to back them with multiyear, flexible support and a core commitment to gender equality. She highlights pooled funds/collaboratives as effective vehicles, illustrating system-level gains. She presents a collection of examples in Nigeria (Gender Mobile Initiative), Indonesia (Pemberdayaan Perempuan Kepala Keluarga, or PEKKA), South Africa (an early childhood development coalition unlocking 10 billion rand), and Brazil (Mapa do Acolhimento), concluding that this is a moment for donors to accelerate giving and to partner with local leaders to strengthen—not replace—public systems.

“Humanitarian Aid for Africa Is Drying Up. It’s Hard but I See An Opportunity to Build Something Better” (Wawira Njiru, Fortune, 2025)

Njiru argues that while humanitarian aid to Africa is drying up, this crisis is an opening to build a better model—one that shifts power and funding to proximate, community-rooted organizations working with public systems rather than relying on short-term, externally driven responses. Njiru calls for donors to move more multiyear, flexible capital to local implementers, streamline reporting, and use collaborative mechanisms that can scale what’s already working (e.g., school meals, maternal and primary health). Such an approach would make communities less vulnerable to political fluctuations in foreign aid and better able to sustain their own progress.

“COVID Was the Rehearsal” (Madeleine Ballard, James Nardella, Jeff Jacobs, Ash Rogers, Daniel Palazuelos, Ari Johnson, Margaret Odera, Joe Ernst, Alexander Wheeler, Theebika Shanmugarasa, Mallika Raghavan, Victoria Ward, Lennie Bazira, Rachel Hofmann, Riccardo Lampariello, Nan Chen, Zeus Aranda, Emily Bancroft, Walter Kerr, Amanda Arch, Liz Diebold, Jane Leu, and Doug Galen, Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2025)

The authors argue that philanthropy’s swift, trust-based mobilization during the COVID-19 pandemic should serve as the playbook for today’s crisis precipitated by abrupt foreign aid cuts; yet, the sector has been comparatively quiet. The authors—leaders from the Community Health Impact Coalition—describe how the US aid freeze has shuttered clinics and disrupted care. They urge donors to share risk and to move flexible multiyear capital now into collaboratives and multilaterals (e.g., The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Beginnings Fund) rather than wait for certainty. They offer a practical 2×2 (timing × risk) framework and concrete steps: raise payout rates, unlock donor-advised funds, fund mergers, and back Global South–led organizations. The authors emphasize that what looks like prudence from above feels like retreat on the front lines. The moment demands bold action grounded in trust and collaboration for both immediate relief and longer-term system strengthening.