Working with Government Guidance for Grantmakers
Foundation-government collaborations seem to be on the rise as each sector looks to pool resources with new partners. How can grantmakers take advantage of the benefits while managing the risks of working on terrain that can be unfamiliar to all parties? The guide includes case studies, suggestions for finding changemakers in government, and advice on navigating roles and power dynamics. Government partners chime in with ideas for keeping things running smoothly.
Highlights
- Ways to work with government
- Your reality/their reality
- Philanthropic liaisons and how they can help
What's in the Guide?
- Why Work with Government?For grantmakers interested in advancing systemic change or addressing root problems, working with government can be an important opportunity — even an essential one. But it can also mean venturing into territory where the rules are new and the power dynamics unfamiliar.
- Ways to Work with Government: From tight partnerships with firm timelines and objectives to loose alliances that evolve over time, foundation-government partnerships take many forms. What they have in common is a motivation to solve public problems by leveraging the distinctive capacities of philanthropy and the public sector.
- Scouting for Partners and Projects: Grantmakers who forge good partnerships are often skilled at scanning for innovators in government — officials who are willing to champion improvements and know how to get things done. These funders are also alert for opportunity moments, when help from a foundation makes all the difference.
- Entry Points: Four Cases: There are certain things that philanthropy can do more easily, rapidly, or flexibly than government can do itself. These four cases — one each from the local, state, national, and international sphere — show how four grantmakers used that insight to open up new opportunities.
- Managing Relationships with Government Partners: Building and sustaining good relationships takes planning, awareness, compromise, and candor. Here’s straightforward advice about what to do at specific points in the lifespan of a partnership with government.
- Do Your Homework: Learning about Government and How It Works: Any funder who wants to be an effective collaborator with government officials needs to take a refresher course in how government operates and what it’s like to work in the public sector. Their realities and yours are not the same.
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First Steps
First, they advised, learn about the government you’re working with as a subject in itself — how it operates, how decisions are made, and how policies get implemented on the ground. “You absolutely must know the rules of the game,” one grantmaker warned.
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What Government Partners Wish Grantmakers Knew
Here’s a short list of things they (government leaders, nonprofits, other grantmakers, philanthropic advisors) encourage grantmakers to bear in mind to help collaborations succeed:
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Do Your Homework: Learning about Government and How It Works
Before bringing ideas to government, experienced funders said, vet them thoroughly with colleagues in philanthropy, grantees who work with government, and others who can help think through the practical implications of a policy change.
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Public Finance 101
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Avoiding the Minefields in Government Partnerships
What do grantmakers who’ve worked with government worry about the most? Here’s a cheat sheet of things to watch out for — and, with luck and careful planning, avoid.
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Managing Relationships with Government Partners: Sustaining Good Relationships
Let government own the agenda: A government official who doesn’t fully embrace a reform agenda won’t be able to ensure that the strategy is well enough executed to “stick” over time.
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Managing Relationships with Government Partners: Building Trust
Start with a good attitude: The first rule of working with government is to put cynicism about government and government officials aside. “You have to come in with the attitude that government can work,” said a grantmaker who has been part of many partnerships.
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Foundation-Government Partnerships: Your Reality and Theirs
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Scouting for Partners & Projects
To find likely government partners and projects, experienced grantmakers cultivate networks where they're likely to come across promising ideas, opportunities, and connections. They keep their ears open constantly for people in government who might help move an agenda and for moments when the involvement of philanthropy might be particularly valued.
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Win-Win Projects
Successful partnership projects maximize the assets of both partners and produce benefits for both sides.
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About the author(s)
Foundation-government collaborations seem to be on the rise as each sector looks to pool resources with new partners. How can grantmakers take advantage of the benefits while managing the risks of working on terrain that can be unfamiliar to all parties? The guide includes case studies, suggestions for finding changemakers in government, and advice on navigating roles and power dynamics. Government partners chime in with ideas for keeping things running smoothly.
Highlights
- Ways to work with government
- Your reality/their reality
- Philanthropic liaisons and how they can help
What's in the Guide?
- Why Work with Government?For grantmakers interested in advancing systemic change or addressing root problems, working with government can be an important opportunity — even an essential one. But it can also mean venturing into territory where the rules are new and the power dynamics unfamiliar.
- Ways to Work with Government: From tight partnerships with firm timelines and objectives to loose alliances that evolve over time, foundation-government partnerships take many forms. What they have in common is a motivation to solve public problems by leveraging the distinctive capacities of philanthropy and the public sector.
- Scouting for Partners and Projects: Grantmakers who forge good partnerships are often skilled at scanning for innovators in government — officials who are willing to champion improvements and know how to get things done. These funders are also alert for opportunity moments, when help from a foundation makes all the difference.
- Entry Points: Four Cases: There are certain things that philanthropy can do more easily, rapidly, or flexibly than government can do itself. These four cases — one each from the local, state, national, and international sphere — show how four grantmakers used that insight to open up new opportunities.
- Managing Relationships with Government Partners: Building and sustaining good relationships takes planning, awareness, compromise, and candor. Here’s straightforward advice about what to do at specific points in the lifespan of a partnership with government.
- Do Your Homework: Learning about Government and How It Works: Any funder who wants to be an effective collaborator with government officials needs to take a refresher course in how government operates and what it’s like to work in the public sector. Their realities and yours are not the same.
About the author(s)
