DEVELOPING ACF'S STRATEGIC AMBITION

ACF’s chief executive Carol Mack OBE shares a snapshot of our recent conversations with members and how these insights will shape our future strategy.

In the six years since we developed our last strategy at ACF, we’ve seen a dramatic shift in the environment we all operate in: most notably with the emergence of Covid-19 and the ongoing effects of the pandemic which still reverberate. Covid-19 both exacerbated and made more visible existing inequalities, and we have all heard the urgent call for action to tackle racial injustice. We’ve also been grappling with the scale of climate threat. The size of the solutions needed means that this is an urgent issue for all parts of civil society, and for all charitable foundations. As we navigate these challenges and face new ones, it’s never been more vital to support, represent and bring together foundations. Since the beginning of the year, we’ve been working to give members the opportunity to influence ACF’s new strategic direction. We want to hear from you about how we can support you more effectively – so that you can be at your best.

In February, we launched a monthlong conversation with a wide range of members and stakeholders. We posed a series of questions across our newsletters, social media and on our website.

In the first week, we asked about the challenges and opportunities for foundations. What stood out for me in the many comments received was the undaunted commitment of foundations to address the many challenges we face; in relation to poverty and inequality, racial justice and the climate crisis, as well as a myriad of other, more specialist concerns reflecting the hyper-diversity of the missions of individual foundations. Perhaps surprisingly for a sector defined by its wealth, the key challenge expressed was that of resources ― primarily limited grants budgets, but also scarce staff capacity. But given the scale of the challenges foundations are seeking to address, this is not so much unexpected, as completely understandable.

Foundations’ views of the future foresee an opportunity for genuine partnership working with wider civil society and communities, with collaboration repeatedly mentioned. For many, this was linked to a keenness to ‘try to shift power’, while wrestling with the implications for governance and agency. ‘Trying to shift power … within a strategy that we decide on our own. Can we do this?’

Many spoke of the power of good grant-making and the value of this work. Others also talked about the challenges of refreshing their own foundation or renewal within foundations more generally, particularly with younger people coming to boards or as staff.

For the second week, we had a more bracing conversation as we turned the spotlight on ACF and listened to the three words members would use to describe us. To help us make sense of the very different words we heard back, we mapped them against ACF’s four organisational values:

– we care

– we are open

– we are ambitious

– we are evidence-based

Encouragingly, the feedback chimed with our values – particularly ‘open’ and ‘evidence-based’. However, we had less resonance on ‘care’ and much further to go on ‘ambitious’.

When discussing care, it was fantastic to see the words ‘committed’ and ‘champion’ being used by our members. There is real strength in these qualities, and they speak to where we want to be as an organisation. Building on this will be something for us to focus on in the new strategy.

Personally, I rejoiced to see the words ‘friendly’ and ‘supportive’. As a membership association this is a really important part of our organisational culture. But clearly this is not how all members feel. The words ‘fringefocused’, ‘semi-detached’ and ‘unresponsive to phone calls’ suggested that we need to be more in touch and attend to the practicalities.

On open there was a lot of alignment, with foundations describing us as ‘collaborative’, ‘connected’ and an ‘enabler’. Some saw barriers to participation – notably that we were ‘expensive’ or ‘exclusive’. Removing obstacles to engaging with us will be something we think hard about as we consider our strategic priorities and future business model.

Evidence-based also resonated with members – describing ACF as ‘relevant’, ‘useful’ and ‘informative’. The words ‘academic’, ‘research’ and ‘neutral’ suggest that perhaps we can do more to apply the evidence we have to reach a wider audience.

We had the least alignment on ambitious and the strongest words in opposition: ‘uninspiring’, ‘old-fashioned’, and even ‘extinct’. These all indicate we have the furthest to go in this area and the most work to do with our new strategy. It’s important that we find a path to become the opposite of these words – inspiring, modern, active and dynamic. It’s crucial our new strategy gives us this ambition.

This set up our third week where we asked one simple question: what two things would help foundations be even more ambitious and effective?

Any strategy review worth its salt prompts you to think outside the box. This question’s feedback did just that, noting that ‘effectiveness is certainly important’ but also, ‘Why do we need to be more ambitious?’,

Ambitious in the thesaurus is linked to meanings like ‘determined, resourceful, hopeful’, all of which seem admirably suited to the challenges of the current time. But the thesaurus also suggests a darker side to ambition as being ‘aggressive, pushy, power-loving’ – all contrary to the behaviours identified in Stronger Foundations.

For the final week of phase one of our conversations with members, we looked at collaboration. With 97% of ACF members who responded to a recent survey telling us that they want to collaborate with others, it’s clearly important for foundations.

But collaborate on what? And with whom? And what role should ACF play in this?

The overarching theme from our responses was that ‘collaboration should be a means to an end, and that end will vary depending on the objectives of particular foundations at particular points in time’.

And collaboration wasn’t just about working with other foundations. It was important to ‘facilitate relationships between different charities so they can share learning’, and ‘giving organisations [that foundations fund] a voice’. In tackling systemic issues, foundations are part of a broader ecosystem that includes other funders and civil society organisations.

Indeed, working collaboratively is in the very DNA of most foundations, turning private wealth into public benefit through activities like grant-making, social investment and working in partnership with others. Foundations cannot achieve their mission on their own – working well with others is key to their success.

The role that ACF should play was wide-ranging, including ‘bringing people together’, ‘pulling together learning’, ‘agreeing and disseminating good practice’, and ‘making the funding process better for both sides’, with an eye to ‘deepening engagement and empowerment of communities’ and ‘equitable grant-making’.

Collaboration is at the heart of what any membership association is about and ACF is no exception. During the pandemic we stepped up our support to members, and other funders, in their collaborative work. This included ACF co-founding, co-developing and hosting the Funders’ Collaborative Hub. The Hub is designed specifically to support emerging and active collaborations, and currently showcases 88 different collaborations between funders, from networks to pooled funds. It has generated a wealth of insight on collaboration for ACF to build on as we develop our strategy for the next five years.

This conversation has been exciting, intriguing and inspiring. We are so grateful to the many people, in the foundation sector and beyond, who took the time to talk with us. We’re now digesting everything we’ve read and heard and will share it with our trustees – all of whom are drawn from ACF’s diverse membership. We’ll be using the insights to develop our strategic ambition, the options for getting us there and the choices we need to make to do this. And we’ll be sharing our thinking with members as we go – especially at our AGM on 15 June 2022. Our aim is to finalise and communicate our new strategy by the end of the year.