About the retreat

The challenges our societies face are growing in scale and complexity. No single organisation is able to solve these challenges alone. Not even foundations are reaching this challenge, despite their unique positioning and ability to take more risks and invest in a longer time frame. There is, however, a rise in popularity of collective impact approaches and global collective efforts, like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), that demonstrate a turning point. Organisations are beginning to understand that collective action is needed; one that expands beyond sectors and levels within the systems. 

Our individual capacities are limited compared to the scale of the problems. And despite knowing we need to work together, it doesn’t make it any easier in practice. 

This is why we brought together senior representatives from 18 global foundations and leading thinkers for a retreat focusing on this topic in August 2017 on Wasan Island, Canada as part of the SIX Funders’ Node. Together we explored what works, what doesn’t, practical frameworks, approaches, and stories of how to shift organisations, cultures and mindsets.

We explored:

• Are our efforts complementary, conflicting, redundant, or unrelated? 
• How do we find the funders that can do the pieces we can’t?
• How do we manage and nurture key relationships that are constantly changing? 
• How do we know the right amount of investment to spark alignment without disempowering people
• How do you bring in underrepresented voices? 
• How can data help us to be better funders?

Insights and learning

Working with others is hard: there are operational challenges and bureaucracy, differing priorities, and limited tools to enable effective collaboration around key areas of need. But foundations are positioned to play a unique role in addressing such challenges: they can take the long view, invest first-loss capital into important innovations, bridge gaps in seed-funding or scale-funding, convene diverse stakeholders, and partner across sectors. By understanding their role better they can increase their own impact as well as the impact of others.

We produced a report highlighting the learning from the retreat. The report is also intended to effectively support both funder and cross-sector collaboration and collective action by diving deeper into the opportunities and challenges that come with alignment, approaches and stories of how to shift organisations, cultures and mind-sets. It also offeree different frameworks and tools, practical strategies, methods and insights taken from real case studies.

Partners and collaborators

We thank Mark Cabaj for his expertise, insight, guidance and support in developing this retreat and creating a set of ‘Aides for Alignment’.

“I knew I wanted to come to this meeting, but it wasn’t until I got here that I realised how much I needed to be here”