Venture philanthropy
Venture philanthropy draws on the success of the venture capital industry in which investors partner with enterprises to provide both funding and expertise to support their success.
Philanthropic ‘venture’ investors provide a value-add form of ‘high-engagement’ grantmaking in which both funding and a range of support services are delivered to selected community partners over a number of years.
The process starts with engaging interested communities and organisations to identify opportunities to support innovative responses to complex social issues. Once a proposal from an organisation for funding has been accepted, a partnership between philanthropy and the funded organisation begins. Tailored support is provided at each stage of development and investment to develop the organisation’s capacity deliver on their vision. Evaluation enables learnings from each project to be captured, and the social impact to be measured. The goal is to provide a measurable return on investment through improved community outcomes.
The final stage of venture philanthropy sees successful initiatives move to becoming sustainable, replicate or scale by consolidating their learning and development and by attracting sustainable sources of funding and support. What is learnt across all initiatives, positive and negative, is captured so that the experience can be applied in future ventures.
We work collaboratively with organisations to support the design and development of effective social programmes.