What Are Funder Collaboratives and Why Are They Important?
The past 20 years have seen significant growth in funder collaboratives—collectives of like-minded donors seeking to invest in charitable causes together and thereby create a greater impact than any single donor could have on their own. Indeed, a 2023 research study by Bridgespan on growth trends with funder collaboratives concluded that such collaboratives may be the most significant trend in how philanthropy is operating today.
A workforce funder collaborative is a group of private and corporate foundations that agree to work together and pool funds to build a more effective workforce system in a community or region. It consists of a broad base of funders who combine their resources, skills, and networks to foster high-impact solutions. To date, most workforce funder collaboratives have focused on the needs of urban communities because that is where foundations and corporate funders are typically based. However, as research from the Urban Institute points out, poverty has recently been growing rapidly in non-urban areas, many of which lack the necessary infrastructure and services needed to address the workforce needs of their low-income residents.
JobsFirst NYC was created through investment by the Tiger Foundation, the Clark Foundation, and the New York City Workforce Funders, a collaborative of private philanthropic investors. As it was with JobsFirst NYC, the funder collaborative component is key to building a sustainability strategy for workforce solutions. Through the creation of JobsFirst to build CommunityINC, we are incubating and accelerating workforce intermediaries and funder collaboratives, we aim to apply JobsFirst’s successful 18-year strategy in communities that can benefit from a well-organized infrastructure that addresses local needs.