全球视野 | 改变资助方式，释放更多慈善资金：合作资助如何带来变革？

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文章《Philanthropists embrace collaborative funding to multiply their impact/慈善家通过利用合作资助以扩大影响力》发布在英国金融时报（Financial Times）上，作者是Aiden Reiter。文章探讨了慈善家们如何通过合作资助来放大他们的影响力，以及这种趋势在现代慈善事业中的重要性和运作方式。文章指出，尽管慈善合作资助还存在挑战，但在当前紧急的社会需求下，合作资助显示出了巨大的潜力。

In 2015, the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation was trying to address a question that often plagues philanthropists: how can we do more? 

2015年，埃德娜·麦康奈尔·克拉克基金会（Edna McConnell Clark Foundation/EMCF）试图解决一个经常困扰慈善家的问题：我们怎么才能做得更多？ 

The New York-based organisation had changed its stripes multiple times since its origins in the 1950s. Initially targeting the elimination of the eye disease trachoma, by the early 2000s “we were focused on solving problems related to youth [social] mobility and the transition to adulthood,” says Nancy Roob, president and chief executive of EMCF at the time. “But affecting youth mobility takes huge changes across sectors, including workforce, education, and health.” The team decided it needed to “get more capital off the sidelines”, as Roob puts it. 

自20世纪50年代成立以来，这家总部位于纽约的组织，已经多次改变其方向。EMCF最初的目标是在2000年代初消除沙眼疾病。当时的EMCF主席兼CEO南希·鲁布说：“我们专注于解决与青年的[社会]流动性和成年过渡相关的问题。但影响青年流动性，需要跨领域的巨大变革，包括劳动力、教育和健康等领域。”就像鲁布所说的，于是该团队决定它们需要“从旁观者之中获得更多的资本”。 

EMCF then started to connect innovative non-profit leaders with funders it thought might offer support. By 2016, it settled on a new approach: “That’s when we decided to launch Blue Meridian Partners,” says Roob, now CEO of BMP. 

随后，EMCF开始将创新型的非营组织利领导者，与它认为可能会提供支持的资助者联系起来。到2016年，EMCF决定采用一种新方法：“那个时候我们决定启动蓝色子午线伙伴（Blue Meridian Partners/BMP），”现任BMP的CEO南希·鲁布说。 

BMP is a funder collaborative — a platform that allows philanthropists and funders to invest in social change together. EMCF had realised that donors were interested in pooling resources to make larger, co-ordinated grants, but did not want to give up their ability to decide where their money goes. 

BMP是一个资助者合作组织：一个允许慈善家和资助者共同投资于社会变革的平台。EMCF 意识到，捐赠人有兴趣汇集资源，共同提供更大规模的捐款，但又不想放弃决定资金使用方向的权利。

BMP designs high-impact strategies worth tens of millions of dollars and then conducts “capital calls” of a pool of “general partners” to raise the required funds for the investment. Among its partners are multibillion-dollar endowments such as the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies. 

BMP会设计价值数千万美元的高影响力战略，然后从一群“普通合伙人（GP）”之中，进行“资本募集”，以筹集投资所需的资金。其合作伙伴包括威廉与弗洛拉·休利特基金会（William and Flora Hewlett Foundation）和查尔斯及林恩·舒斯特曼家族基金会（Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies）等多家资产过亿的捐赠机构。 

This year, BMP hit $4bn dollars of allocated capital, and it now directs hundreds of millions of dollars in giving each year. It has expanded its focus beyond youth to issues affecting all Americans, including health, education and justice. “It is incredible, but I would say that we still have only scratched the surface . . . I think there is more opportunity to innovate and get more capital to these important causes,” says Roob. 

今年，BMP分配的资金规模达到了40亿美元，并且每年指导数亿美元的捐赠。BMP的关注点已从青少年领域，扩展到了影响所有美国人的问题，包括健康、教育和司法。南希·鲁布说：“这是令人难以置信的。但我想说的是，我们还仅仅是触及了表面...... 我认为还有更多的机会可以来进行创新，并让更多的资本投入到这些重要的事业中去。”

Though ECMF did not realise it at the time, it, and later, BMP were at the vanguard of a new trend in large-scale philanthropy. 

尽管ECMF当时并未意识到这一点，但它和后来的BMP都是大规模慈善事业这一新趋势的先锋。 

According to 2023 research by The Bridgespan Group, since 2010, the number of funder collaboratives with assets larger than $1mn has doubled, with more than $3bn invested in non-profits and social movements by 2022. 

根据布里奇斯潘集团（The Bridgespan Group）2023年的研究，自2010年以来，资产超过100万美元的资助者合作组织的数量已经翻了一番；并且到2022年，其投资于非营利组织和社会运动的金额已超过30亿美元。 

“This may be the most significant trend in how philanthropy is operating today, and it holds enormous promise — both for the ways non-profits get funded and for the total amount of philanthropy that gets unlocked,” says William Foster, managing partner of Bridgespan. 

布里奇斯潘集团的管理合伙人威廉·福斯特说：“这可能是当今慈善事业运作中最重要的趋势。无论是对非营利组织获得资金的方式，还是对慈善事业所能释放的资金总量而言，它都蕴含着巨大的前景。” 

But why would philanthropists work together? According to experts, the foremost reason is learning. “It is quite lonely being a foundation professional. Being in a funder collaborative gives you colleagues,” says Beth Breeze, director of the Centre for Philanthropy at the University of Kent. “If you share the burden of grant-making and work together, you can share learnings, new ideas, and the joys of giving.” 

但是，慈善家们为什么要选择合作呢？专家认为，首要原因是学习。英国肯特大学慈善研究中心主任贝丝·布里兹说：“作为一名基金会专业人士是相当孤独的。参与到资助者的合作之中，就可以让你拥有同事。如果你们共同承担捐款的重担并一起工作，就可以分享学习成果、新想法以及捐赠的乐趣。” 

Funder collaboratives also allow philanthropists to share the cost of hiring experts and leverage their combined, larger networks to learn about new grantees and methods for impact. 

资助者合作组织还能让慈善家们分摊雇佣专家的成本，并利用他们联合起来的、更大的网络来了解新的受资助者和产生影响力的方法。 

Take, for example, Farming the Future, a UK-based funder collaborative focused on making the industrial food system more sustainable. What started as a joint venture between a foundation with experience in the food ecosystem and another foundation that wanted to learn more has blossomed into a learning hub for a range of social investors. 

以Farming the Future为例，这是一家总部位于英国的资助者合作组织，致力于让工业食品系统更具可持续性。最初，这只是一个在食品生态系统有经验的基金会，与另一个想要了解更多的基金会之间的合作项目，但后来发展成为一个面向一系列社会投资者的学习中心。 

At the centre of Farming the Future is expertise. The collaborative has a team of “ambassadors” from various areas of the food ecosystem, ranging from leaders of community kitchens to CEOs of supply chain companies. The ambassadors direct grants from the organisation’s pooled fund, identify new potential grantees, and engage new philanthropists and foundations. 

未来农业的核心是专业知识。该合作组织拥有一支“大使”团队，他们来自食品生态系统的各个领域，从社区厨房的领导到供应链公司的CEO。大使们负责指导该组织的共享基金的捐款，确定新的潜在受赠者，并吸引新的慈善家和基金会参与。 

“Our ambassadors convene the funders around developing necessary changes in the ecosystem,” says Bonnie Hewson, director of Farming the Future. “[They] sit between organisations on the ground and the funders.” 

Farming the Future组织的主管邦妮·休森说：“我们的大使们召集资助者，并围绕生态系统中必要的变革开展工作。（他们）处于实地组织和资助者之间。” 

Since 2019, Farming the Future has helped foundations invest £1.6mn in innovative food non-profits and agricultural solutions. 

自2019年以来，Farming the Future已帮助各基金会向创新型食品非营利组织和农业解决方案，投资了160万英镑。

The second key reason for forming funder collaboratives is impact. By pooling resources, funders are able to put larger amounts of money behind impactful ideas. Organisations can also take a wider view of an issue, and take bigger risks. 

成立资助者合作组织的第二个关键原因是影响力。通过集合资源，资助者能够为有影响力的想法投入更多资金。这些组织还可以从更广阔的视角看待问题，并承担更大的风险。 

“There is always a cost to the infrastructure to administer grants and identify solutions.” says Jim Cooke of the Association of Charitable Foundations, a UK-based membership network for philanthropic grant-makers. “Funders can share those costs, and put more into the grants.” 

慈善基金会联盟（the Association of Charitable Foundations）是一家总部设在英国的慈善捐款人会员网络，该组织的吉姆·库克说：“管理捐赠和识别解决方案的基础设施成本是总是存在的。资助者们可以分担这些成本，并将更多资金用于捐赠。” 

Roob adds: “[Our partners] are able to go after things they care about that may be riskier investments, but they feel supported in doing so because their dollars are being backed by peers.” 

南希·鲁布补充道：“（我们的合作伙伴）能够追求他们关心的事情，这些事情可能是风险较高的投资。但他们在这样做的时候感觉得到了支持，因为他们的资金得到了同行者的支持。”

According to social sector insiders, funder collaboratives can get more money into a space, rather than just being the sum of philanthropic donations that would have otherwise gone to the same issue. 

根据社会领域的内部人士说法，资助者的合作可以吸引更多的资金投入到一个领域，而不仅仅是将原本用于同一问题的慈善捐款简单相加。 

“[From our research] there is no evidence that money to a collaborative comes at the cost of other grants — it is not a fixed pie . . . When a [funder collaborative] builds a vehicle to direct money into a space, it can get [other foundations and philanthropies] to put new funding into the cause,” explains Foster of Bridgespan. 

布里奇斯潘集团的威廉·福斯特解释说：“（根据我们的研究）没有证据表明，给合作组织的资金，会是以其他捐款作为代价的，这不是一块固定份额的蛋糕…当一个（资助者合作组织）建立了一个将资金引导到某个领域的机制时，它就可以吸引（其他基金会和慈善家）将新的资金投入这项事业。” 

By combining larger scale and risk-taking, some funder collaboratives have been able to introduce innovative, effective schemes that governments and more traditional foundations would not think to support. 

通过将更大规模和风险分担结合起来，一些资助者合作组织就能够推出创新且有效的方案，而这些方案通常是政府和更传统的基金会不会考虑去支持的。 

Bringing new ideas to light is where the City Fund shines. Originally a part of Arnold Ventures, the family foundation of former Enron executive John D Arnold, City Fund is a US-based funder collaborative focused on strengthening school systems and helping them become more responsive to the communities they serve. For example, it has invested in The Mind Trust, an Indiana-based non-profit focused on improving local education. 

引入新想法是City Fund的亮点。City Fund最初隶属于安然公司前高管约翰·阿诺德的家族基金会——阿诺德风险投资公司(Arnold Ventures)。City Fund是一个总部设在美国的资助者合作组织，致力于加强学校系统，并帮助它们更好地响应所服务社区的需求。例如，City Fund投资了位于印第安纳州的非营利组织The Mind Trust，该组织致力于改善当地教育。 

“While engaging our communities a few months into the pandemic, we started to realise the immense learning loss facing students who were attending virtual school, especially students from marginalised communities,” says Brandon Brown, chief executive of The Mind Trust. 

The Mind Trust的CEO兰登·布朗说：“在新冠疫情开始的几个月后，我们开始意识到：上网课的学生，尤其是来自边缘化社区的学生，他们面临着巨大的学习损失。” 

With City Fund’s support, The Mind Trust launched Indy Summer Learning Labs, a summer programme focused on helping disadvantaged students who have fallen behind. “In the first summer, we reached 3,000 students by working closely with local schools and partnering with communities,” says Brown. 

在City Fund的支持下，The Mind Trust推出了印第安纳暑期学习实验室，这是一项暑期项目，专注于帮助那些成绩落后的贫困学生。布朗说：“在第一个暑期，我们与当地学校密切合作，与社区结成伙伴关系，从而帮助了3000名学生。” 

The first cohort of students saw 20 per cent jumps in English and maths scores, resulting in better outcomes in school the next year. “We knew we had something special, and decided to roll it out more. City Fund was with us along that journey,” says Brown. Since 2021, Indy Summer Learning Labs has become a mainstay in schools across the entire state. In just three summers, the programme has reached more than 10,000 pupils in Indiana. 

该项目的第一批学生的英语和数学成绩提高了20%，他们第二年在学校的表现也更好。布朗说：“我们知道我们的项目有特别之处，并决定进一步推广。City Fund在这个过程中一直支持我们。”自2021年以来，印第安纳暑期学习实验室已经成为整个印第安纳州学校的固定项目。在短短三年内，该项目帮助了印第安纳州超过10000名的学生。 

Summer programmes are not a typical part of American public education, nor have they been touted by philanthropies in the past. But City Fund, inspired by the success of Indy Summer Learning Labs, is now working with school districts, non-profits and philanthropists across the country to launch similar programmes. 

暑期项目并不是美国公立教育的典型组成部分，以前也没得到过慈善家们的提倡。但City Fund受到印第安纳暑期学习实验室的成功经验的启发，目前正与全美国各地的学区、非营利组织和慈善家合作，推出类似的项目。 

“By working with organisations on the ground [such as The Mind Trust], we are able to spread the idea to other cities and grantees, and help them achieve similar results,” says City Fund’s chief executive Marlon Marshall. 

City Fund的CEO马龙·马歇尔说：“通过与实地组织（比如The Mind Trust）合作，我们能够将这一理念传播给其他城市和受资助者，帮助他们取得类似的成果。”

But, according to experts, readying collaboratives to actually get money out the door is the biggest challenge. “It can be hard for some donors to make the shift from learning to giving,” says Foster of Bridgespan. 

但是专家们认为，如何让合作机构做好准备，真正把钱拿出来，才是最大的挑战。布里奇斯潘集团的威廉·福斯特说：“对于一些捐赠人来说，从学习转向捐赠可能很困难。” 

Funder collaboratives vary in their legal, financial and operational structures but they generally sit on a spectrum somewhere between “pooled funds” and “co-granting”. 

资助者合作组织的法律、财务和运作结构各不相同，但通常都介于“共享基金（pooled funds）”和“共同捐款（co-granting）”之间的某个位置。

Pooled funds, such as Farming the Future, are funder collaboratives where donors put their money into a shared pot, and then engage in internal processes to figure out where that funding should go. It is arguably the most democratic way of distributing capital, but, as Hewson of Farming the Future says, it is “hard work” to get donors to buy in. 

共享基金是资助者合作组织的一种，比如Farming the Future组织：捐赠人将他们的资金投入到一个共享的资金池中，然后通过内部程序来决定资金的去向。这可能是最民主的资金分配方式。但正如Farming the Future的邦妮·休森所说，让捐赠人买账是一项“艰巨的工作”。 

On the other side is “co-granting”, where donors do not have any formal commitments to provide funding, but are engaged in the process of sourcing investments. 

另一种方式是“共同捐款”，捐赠人没有正式的、提供资金的承诺，但会参与到寻找投资的过程中。 

Experts say that most collaboratives fall somewhere in the middle, as they want to have guaranteed funding but do not wish to lock out any interested donors. One collaborative that has made the shift from learning to giving The END Fund. Founded in 2012 by a mix of philanthropists and investment firms interested in ending neglected tropical diseases, such as trachoma and roundworms, the organisation used a novel funding approach. 

专家们说，大多数合作组织介于两者之间，因为他们既希望获得有保证的资助，又不希望将任何感兴趣的捐赠人拒之门外。END基金就是一个实现了从学习到捐赠转变的合作组织。该组织由一群慈善家和投资公司于2012年创立，他们对消除被忽视的热带疾病（如沙眼和蛔虫）感兴趣，并采用了一种新颖的资助方式。 

“We are not a foundation — we are a fund,” says interim CEO Diana Benton Schechter. “We have a portfolio of pooled funds within our organisation, and our donors decide which portfolio they wish to contribute to. As a programme is administered, we gather the philanthropists to hear about their ‘returns’ and give them opportunities to share learnings from their other work,” says Benton Schechter. “It creates a really joyful learning community of peers passionate about the same causes.” 

END基金临时CEO戴安娜·本顿·谢克特说：“我们不是基金会，我们是基金。我们在组织内部有一个共享基金组合，由捐赠人决定他们希望向哪个组合捐款。当一个项目开始执行时，我们会召集慈善家们，让他们听取他们捐赠的‘回报’，并给他们机会来分享他们从其他工作中汲取的经验。这创造了一个真正令人愉快的学习社区，聚集了对相同事业充满热情的同行者。” 

The END Fund has 7,000 investors from 68 countries, and the large amount of capital has allowed it to make a difference on neglected tropical diseases. For instance, in Burundi, 340,000 trachoma treatments have saved large areas of the country from blindness. In Ethiopia, more than 58,000 patients have received sight-saving surgeries. 

END基金有来自68个国家的7000名投资者，大量的资金使其能够在被忽视的热带疾病方面有所作为。例如，在布隆迪，34万例沙眼治疗使该国大部分地区的人群免于失明。在埃塞俄比亚，超过5.8万名患者接受了视力拯救手术。 

“It is not easy to make a funder collaborative work — people do not collaborate unless they have to,” says Hewson of Farming the Future. “But we do have to, because we are in this moment where everything is urgent.” 

Farming the Future的邦妮·休森说：“让资助者合作组织发挥作用并非易事。除非迫不得已，否则人们不会轻易合作。但我们确实需要这样做，因为我们正处于一个一切都刻不容缓的时刻。” 

Foster of Bridgespan says: “I think we will look back, one day, and say that [collaboration] is the most significantly impactful change in philanthropy.” 

布里奇斯潘集团的威廉·福斯特说：“我认为，当有一天我们回过头来看时，会说（合作）是慈善事业中影响力最大的变革。”