Embracing Complexity. Towards a Shared Understanding of Funding Systems Change
As we stand on the threshold of an epochal decade, we are confronted with an urgent need to find, fund, and support transformative solutions at a far greater pace than ever.
Ashoka dedicates this report to James P. Grant. Read more about James here.
Manmeet Mehta is the Director of Program Operations and Impact for Ashoka U.S. She has more than 15 years of experience in the corporate and social sector, working on issues of improving access to philanthropic capital, strategy consulting, strategic philanthropy, and grantmaking. She founded GlobalGiving’s online crowdfunding program, “The GlobalGiving Accelerator" in 2007. The Accelerator was the first globally accessible mechanism for social entrepreneurs and nonprofits to access funding from the $270 billion US philanthropic market. She has worked with funders like USAID, The Rockefeller Foundation, and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on developing a systems-driven strategy for finding and funding transformative solutions globally. She grew up living in many cities across India, holds an MBA, and a degree in Masters in International Relations and Public Policy from the Maxwell School in Syracuse, NY.
Odin Mühlenbein is a Partner at Ashoka Germany and co-leads the Systems Unit at Ashoka Globalizer. Globalizer develops impact strategies for advanced social entretreneurs from around the world with the goal to promote social system change.
Before his job at Ashoka, Odin worked at McKinsey & Company and co-founded two social ventures that are now led by successors. He studied in Munich, Oxford, and Cambridge and holds degrees in Philosophy, Logic, and Political Sciences.
On the 25th anniversary of his passing, Ashoka dedicates this report to James P. Grant, a consummate systems leader as architect of the Child Survival Revolution and The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. He envisioned a better world, invited many others to imagine and build it alongside him while ensuring measurable results to track progress and build accountability. By making simple, low-cost health solutions (including vaccines and oral rehydration solutions) available to children around the world, he enabled world leaders to see the possibility of ensuring children’s survival through simple vaccines and oral rehydration strategies and thus transformed global health care. His life and work continue to have a permanent and extraordinary impact on communities around the world.
Jim Grant led UNICEF for 15 transformative years (1980-1995). His theory of change: “Children are the wedge issue for development and development is the wedge issue of peace.” He started by addressing the whole problem never being limited by immediate resources. He leveraged a wide range of power: other UN agencies, donors, political leaders, religious authorities, unions, beggars associations, media and, most potently, law (establishing the rights of the child), topmost political leaders (the world’s first summit to improve the human condition), evaluations (empowering political leaders as peer pressure on each other) and so much more.
He always weighed actions from the standpoint of whether they would further his large goals. And he used his unrestricted resources (based on expanding the business of UNICEF greeting cards) to build the best public and donor relations operations of any official global organization to leverage public opinion and support. His political mobilization of leaders directly inspired other world summits on key development issues, and the success of his global programs for children provided the model for the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals. The UN now has missions that are fact and reality based. Because of his work, scores of millions of children are alive today who otherwise would have perished.
Ashoka is the global network for designers of our society who take an entrepreneurial stance and innovative approaches to solve social problems - in partnership with institutions and committed people worldwide.
Ashoka is the global network for designers of our society who take an entrepreneurial stance and innovative approaches to solve social problems - in partnership with institutions and committed people worldwide.
Catalyst 2030 is a collection of social entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, corporations, independent individuals, civil societies and governments, who have all come together in an effort to answer a simple question with a very complicated answer: How can we ensure the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are met by 2030?
Catalyst 2030 is a collection of social entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, corporations, independent individuals, civil societies and governments, who have all come together in an effort to answer a simple question with a very complicated answer: How can we ensure the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are met by 2030?
Co-Impact
A global collaborative for systems change, focused on improving the lives of millions of people around the world.
Co-Impact
A global collaborative for systems change, focused on improving the lives of millions of people around the world.
We discover emerging social entrepreneurs and invest deeply in the growth of their ideas and leadership. Over 30 years, we've built a broad, dynamic ecosystem to support these leaders as they solve the world’s biggest problems.
We discover emerging social entrepreneurs and invest deeply in the growth of their ideas and leadership. Over 30 years, we've built a broad, dynamic ecosystem to support these leaders as they solve the world’s biggest problems.
A strategic consulting company, McKinsey & Company creates strategic missions and conducts evaluations of social impact studies for Ashoka and for Fellows around the world. McKinsey & Company also support Ashoka Fellows with personal consultations that will help launch and scale Fellows' strategy and impact.
A strategic consulting company, McKinsey & Company creates strategic missions and conducts evaluations of social impact studies for Ashoka and for Fellows around the world. McKinsey & Company also support Ashoka Fellows with personal consultations that will help launch and scale Fellows' strategy and impact.
In partnership with the World Economic Forum, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship is a leading global platform that accelerates outstanding models of social innovation. Working together, we help scale solutions to support millions of vulnerable and low-income people in need.
In partnership with the World Economic Forum, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship is a leading global platform that accelerates outstanding models of social innovation. Working together, we help scale solutions to support millions of vulnerable and low-income people in need.
SystemIQ
SYSTEMIQ was set up in 2016 to drive the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by transforming markets and business models in three key economic systems: land use, materials and energy.
SystemIQ
SYSTEMIQ was set up in 2016 to drive the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by transforming markets and business models in three key economic systems: land use, materials and energy.
Together, we seek to reflect on the sector’s insights to the question:
How do we get better at funding and supporting systems change?
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Systems Change Leaders Surveyed
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Peer Organizations Interviewed
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Organizations that Collaborated
“To transcend the compounding crises of our times – including climate change, rising inequality and the erosion of democracy – philanthropy must help humanity become adept at systemic change. This guide is a timely and essential resource for supporting this epochal shift.”
Stephen Huddart
President & CEO McConnell Foundation
These recommendations are like a roadmap... for foundations that believe in system change but do not know how to start. We live in challenging times with great social, economical and environmental challenges; we need big and bold actions and this report articulates how funders can step up...
Claude Pinard
Executive Director of the Fondation Mirella et Lino Saputo
Five Principles for Funding Systems Change
We propose five principles along which funders interested in supporting systems change approaches might rethink and adapt their current way of funding.
Principle 1: Embrace a Systems Mindset
Be clear about the systems you want to change, incorporating systems change into your DNA, and actively looking for funding opportunities.
Principle 2: Support Evolving Paths to Systems Change
Fund systems leaders with transformative visions of improved systems rather than projects. Invest in learning and capability building. Encourage collaboration among systems change leaders.
Principle 3: Work in True Partnership
Acknowledge and work against power dynamics. Provide support that fits systems change leaders’ needs and be mindful of their limited resources.
Principle 4: Prepare for Long-Term Engagement
Be realistic about the time it takes to achieve systems change. Acknowledge that the path of the initiatives will change along the way and encourage realistic ambitions.
Principle 5: Collaborate with Other Stakeholders
Align with other funders. Build networks for systems change leaders and leave the leading role to systems change leaders.
Ashoka
