JOHANNESBURG—July 3, 2025—As government-funded development aid budgets shrink and social needs continue to grow, there is growing momentum amongst development funders and philanthropic foundations in Africa to collaborate for greater impact. New research, published today by The Bridgespan Group, highlights collaborations that are driving this momentum and surfaces three promising models for funders and foundations.

For the report, Bridgespan spoke to representatives of 29 development funders, foundations, and intermediary organisations in late 2024 and early 2025. “When we studied structured collaboratives in Africa, we found that only a small percentage involve partnerships with development funders,” said Anna-Maria Mbwette, a Bridgespan partner and co-author of the report. “Given high-profile examples—such as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, cofounded 25 years ago by the Gates Foundation, and the World Bank—we wondered why such collaboration wasn’t more common. Our research uncovered that more collaboration is happening in reality, though often in less structured ways.”

Development funders often focus their giving on large-scale government and private sector projects that advance national development goals. Philanthropy, on the other hand, typically deploys grants to nonprofits that aim to improve outcomes in education, healthcare, skill development, or other social and environmental issues.

Yet, the report’s authors argue that there are points of intersection where their interests align, making collaboration not just possible, but useful. As a team, development funders and philanthropy can champion ideas more powerfully and move forward more quickly than when acting alone, according to the study.

Bridgespan’s interviews identified three models of collaboration:

• Information sharing and networking: This model brings multiple parties together to learn from each other by sharing knowledge, experience, and networks related to a particular place or a sector, such as education or health. For newcomers to collaboration, this model provides an entry-level learning experience and a chance to build trust with other funders.
• Pooling funds for greater impact: Globally, pooled funds vary in governance and administration. In Africa, the multi-donor trust fund was top of mind amongst interviewees. This model combines financial contributions from multiple parties to deliver greater impact together, exceeding what any one party could accomplish. Blended finance also emerged as an strategy to attract private investors who otherwise would not participate in investments.
• Joint initiatives towards a common goal: These are the most integrated form of collaboration—going beyond pooling capital by also mobilising partners’ technical expertise, influence, and convening power in support of shared objectives. Roles are defined to correspond to each partner’s strengths and potential for value addition.

“We heard from many of our interviewees that the biggest barrier to more collaboration is not lack of capital, but awareness amongst philanthropies and development funders about each other’s initiatives and the impact they are trying to achieve,” said Rossina Naidoo, co-author and manager at Bridgespan. “We hope this research nudges them to forge new ways of working together. Collaboration done well benefits all the parties involved, including the people for whom the collaboration exists.”

Read the full report: https://bspan.org/44yCuRb

This report benefited from guidance by the Chandler Foundation, specifically Director of Integrity Programs Leslie Tsai, who served as a thought partner.

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About Bridgespan

The Bridgespan Group (www.bridgespan.org) is a global nonprofit that collaborates with social change organizations, philanthropists, and impact investors to make the world more equitable and just. Bridgespan’s services include strategy consulting and advising, sourcing and diligence, and leadership team support. We take what we learn from this work and build on it with original research, identifying best practices and innovative ideas to share with the social sector. We work from locations in Boston, Johannesburg, Mumbai, New York, San Francisco, Singapore, and Washington DC.