Partnership, Risk-Taking, and Innovation in Philanthropy
Multimillion-dollar philanthropic investments are a powerful way to advance social change. Yet there aren't many such big bets. While social change dominates major donors' objectives, only 20 percent of big-bet dollars go to such causes. We seek to catalyze a significant increase in the number of big bets devoted to inequities.
Attract, Develop, and Retain Skilled Talent
Strong leadership is the bedrock of strong organizations, enabling them to achieving superior results. Yet, most nonprofits struggle to find the resources, know-how, and time to implement effective leadership recruiting, development, and retention programs. Drawing from experience, Bridgespan offers practical advice to help nonprofits build the systems and processes to develop strong individual leaders and teams to carry out their missions.
Breaking the Starvation Cycle
Leaders across the social sector have campaigned for years for a solution to the "starvation cycle" that leaves nonprofits short of needed funds to cover the real costs of delivering their services. A growing movement of funders and key intermediaries, together with nonprofit leaders, are embracing new approaches to funding organizations. We seek to see the largest funders—as a first step—shift their practices to more effectively pay what it really takes nonprofits to achieve desired results.
Serving Isn't Enough — Let's Start Solving
Nonprofit leaders and philanthropists have developed effective social programs over the past decade. Yet even the most successful programs reach only a fraction of those in need. Bridging this gap requires new strategies, new forms of collaboration, new platforms for learning and spreading what works, and new funding models. We seek to increase the number of problems being addressed at a population-level of scale.