Organisation type: 
Domestic Philanthropy

Develop multiyear funder-nonprofit partnerships

• EdelGive enters into multiyear partnerships spanning three years. It is open to extending the support beyond the three-year mark based on the need and context.
• The GROW Fund is a two-year commitment towards core costs and the development of key organisational functions with a focus on building future readiness.

Pay a fair share of core costs

• EdelGive engages with its nonprofit partners to understand how best to support their core costs. In cases of exigencies (e.g. where a shortfall in core-cost coverage in a programme funded by multiple funders may adversely affect the nonprofit’s ability to deliver impact), it does support organisations beyond the programmatic grant, with an understanding that over time this support will be tapered to avoid over-dependence.
• The GROW Fund is entirely focused on core-cost needs and OD and provides its nonprofit partners complete flexibility to use its funding to cover their core costs.

Invest in organisational development

• EdelGive provides financial and non-financial OD support based on a nonprofit’s needs.
  • Financial support.
    • Even when funding a specific programme, the foundation earmarks a percentage of a grant for the nonprofit to invest in OD needs.
    • The GROW Fund conducts a prioritisation exercise with its nonprofit partners to help assess their OD capabilities across 12 dimensions and provides nonbinding recommendations for the three highest-priority areas for investments. Nonprofits are given the flexibility to focus on the recommended capabilities or identify any other OD priorities (up to three capabilities).
  • Non-financial support.
    • EdelGive partners with experts to support nonprofit partners in their OD efforts.
    • The GROW fund focuses on strengthening management capacities and operational efficiencies of partner nonprofits by conducting cohort-based workshops and trainings as well as by providing customised guidance and frameworks through experts with whom they partner.

Build financial resilience

• EdelGive helps nonprofit partners diversify their funding base. On the nonprofit side, it provides connections to other funders. On the funder side, it helps inform funders’ giving and recommends nonprofit partners.
• In providing nonprofits with both funding as well as guidance for fundraising, it helps enable parallel fundraising for both programmatic and non-programmatic needs, which are often larger than the size of the grant from the GROW Fund.

Embed diversity, equity, and inclusion in grantmaking

• The foundation brings a deep commitment to inclusiveness as a fundamental operating principle and places communities at the centre of all efforts. This is reflected in the way EdelGive conceptualises and develops initiatives, such as its women’s empowerment campaign. The commitment also comes through in its selection of nonprofit partners. For example, EdelGive has supported grassroots nonprofits working on gender-related issues such as freedom from violence and discrimination; leadership of women and girls; access to justice, rights, and entitlements; and economic empowerment.
• Within the GROW Fund, EdelGive considers DEI in its proposal solicitation and selection processes to ensure that nonprofits are not passed over because of factors such as language and geography. This includes:
  • Making proposal materials available in seven languages and enhancing outreach through 84 publications.
  • Accounting for bias and barriers in the shortlisting of applications.
  • Ensuring geographic representation within the cohort of applicants.
  • Taking an intentional step to select organisations who have gender diversity on their leadership teams and boards.