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7/30/2019 The Art of Adding Value
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The Art of Adding ValueVariety New Yorks
High Touch, High Impact Philanthropic Model
By Jessica Bynoe
Executive Director, Variety New York
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A Bold Vision for Philanthropy
The relationship between funder and
grantee is strained by many factors.
Power imbalances
Cultural differences
Disproportionate resources
Accountability
Risk and trust
Different definitions of success.
The relationship between funder and
grantee must be examined and refined
to become a mutual partnership.
Work in tandem to create great
change.
Funder adds value
Grantees and funder act as partners
Understanding that money is not the
only currency of power
The Art of Adding Value by Jessica Bynoe, Executive Director of
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The relationship between funders and grantees hold great promise andfertility to create a deep impact on issues of inequity and injustice,
however reality often stifles this potential.
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In 2010, Variety New York began an ambitious strategic plan to
determine ways to achieve high impact grant making. Whenthe Board of Directors decided to develop a grassroots value-added approach to philanthropy, it was a rare and excitingopportunity.
Key Decisions to Support High Impact Grantmaking Align Varietys history with philanthropic outcomes
Focus on outcomes & impact rather than inputs & outputs
Fund only grassroots non-profits
Narrow the focus to transformational arts programs
Design a value-added set of supports for grantees to enhanceperformance
Increase brand recognition
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Variety New Yorks Strategic Plan
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Adding Versus Creating Value
One could say the concept of supporting grantees with more
than money goes back to 1969 when Rockefeller introducedthe idea of venture philanthropy.
The concept of creating value was introduced in 1999 byKramer and Porter in PhilanthropysNew Agenda: CreatingValue, which discussed how funders can offer additional
resources to grantees to enhance the value of the donations. Their framework remained very funder centric. It is essentially
a suggested list of things the funder can do to enhance andprove its own value rather than the value of the overall work.
At Variety New York we find this distinction critical in trying
to alleviate some of the challenges most often cited in thecurrent climate on philanthropic giving
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Adding Versus Creating Value
The Art of Adding Value by Jessica Bynoe, Executive Director of
Variety the Children's Charity of New York, Tent 35
Funder &Value
Grantees
Outputs
Grantees
Value
Funder
Outcomes& ImpactVs.
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Goals of Adding Value
Adding value should be both a means and an end for funders to successfullyreach the goals in their logic models.
Support existing br il li ance. As a funder, it is important to remember thatmany of the brilliant ideas to change communities, injustices, and societyare already out there. They need to be identified, nurtured, and lifted up.
Add capacity and strengthen innovation. Once there is recognition of
the existing brilliance it should become the goal of funders to addcapacity and strengthen the innovations of the ideas and organizations.
Ease the power imbalance between funder and grantee. The desire toease the power imbalance must be an explicit goal in this work. Onlywhen the power imbalance is addressed will a funder and grantee be ableto work more as partners, with funders working alongside grantees ratherthan as gatekeepers in front of grantees.
Buil d the broader f ield. When supporting grantees through a value-added approach, funders ought to recognize their role as field builders asit relates to their ability to add to the knowledge base, support emergingleaders, and create infrastructure for collaboration.
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A Sharp Investment FocusWhat is it?
Singular investment focus Supports a specific theory of change
Consistent over time
Transparent
Why it Matters Develop a rich understanding of a field, the communities affected by
an issue, and the programs and interventions that reap the mostsuccess.
Select grantees in a more educated way.
Assess outcomes and impact more clearly.
Inform a broader field that can help both grantees and fundersachieve more profound results.
Become a true partner in the field of impact.
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Defining Risk
Supporting small and young organizations Seeking out grassroots grantees
Supporting untraditional leaders
Working with organizations whose spaces are raw, shared, or nonexistent
Working with limited infrastructure for things like evaluation, technology orrecord keeping.
Innovation at the Edges
Indigenous leadership
Deep commitment to outcomes
Out of the box solutions
Diverse voices
The most resonate, and passionate ideas
It may be safer and less risky to support larger, more established organizations,but if we are trying to achieve real change, we must support those solutionswhich are born in and by the communities most afflicted.
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Risk Taking to Support Innovation
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When making a commitment to risk taking and innovation, it isimportant to develop systems of diligence and high standards tosafeguard against failure.
Extensive outreach process to small organizations, affinitygroups, local foundations, and personal contacts to ensure that
grassroots organizations are aware funding.
Intentionally market grants opportunities in non-traditionalcircles.
Extreme accessibility to potential grantees.
Thorough and transparent review process using objectiverubrics, multiple scorers, site visits, and board engagement.
Relationships, relationships, relationships!
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Diligence to Support Risk
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Relationships of Shared Valued
Grantees and funders can work together as partners to achieve mutual
goals. A good first step is for the funder to reflect on their strengths, gaps,
communication style, and desire to learn.
Defining roles in the funder/grantee partnership
Grantees have the most important job of doing the most innovativework at the grassroots levels
Funders have the most important job of supporting grantees aseffective, efficient organizations while enhancing their visibility inthe field
Open and candid lines of communication early help grantees andfunders understand the gaps in the collective knowledge and figureout how to fill them.
Engage grantees as partners, teachers, and leaders in this work. Pursue active learning with grantees and other partners to understand
how this work is done most effectively.
Reflection and improvement
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Varied & Targeted ResourcesMoving from Charity to Change
Traditional check writing philanthropy misses a huge opportunity toensure that the grantees and funders outputs and, more importantly,outcomes and impact are stronger and the organizations are moresuccessful.
When Variety New York designed its approach, it wanted to offergrantees targeted and varied resources to help them achieve their goals.
Secure investments Launches grantees on to bigger funding opportunities
Types of Resources
Monthly workshops
One-on-one technical assistance
Collective infrastructure Enhanced visibility
Publication opportunities
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Example Resources
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Example Resources
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Collective Infrastructure Some grassroots grantees would not have the internal
capacity to implement some strategies for organizationaldevelopment.
One of the biggest challenges small non-profits face is
developing the infrastructure necessary to support
sophisticated processes and systems that will allow themto grow.
VarietyNew York decided to enhance everyones
capacity by developing systems of collective
infrastructure
Variety New York creates and manages systems that can
be shared by all.
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Evaluation as InfrastructureAt Variety New York, we centralized evaluation systems creating threesurvey instruments for grantees to use and submit to the team at Variety
New York. Uniform protocols
Centralized data entry, analysis and reporting
Higher statistical power
Initial Results 98% of youth demonstrating the ability to work as a team,
92% of youth expressing increased confidence,
91% of youth creating products that demonstrate a high level of insightinto their communities,
86% of youth being able to express their ideas more clearly,
82% of youth reporting the attainment of skills that will be helpful intheir future career, and
76% of youth reporting an increase in motivation to do better in schoolas a result of the programs.
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Possibilities of the Model
Become honest about the current limitations of
philanthropy.
Develop relationships and investment partnerships that
recognize power dynamics and work to address them.
Ensure the most innovative ideas better inform a field.
Use grantee and funder assets in strategic ways to achieve
mutual outcomes of deeper and greater impact.
Achieve a higher return on investment for philanthropic
dollars.
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Next Steps
Enlist grantees and other funders as advocates.
Expand research to better track, measure, and
transparently report on the effectiveness of philanthropy
overall and value-added approaches in particular. Prove higher returns on investment with true, not
assumed, calculations of net social impact.
Encourage a greater circle of funders to embrace value-
added philanthropy.
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