What the donor wants. And what we hear

 Moving Posts #1 

In her report Inspiring soulful organizations, Jessica Horn documents a process of strengthening CSOs involving deep reflection, technical support, and coaching. A range of insights emerged that apply to our context. I want to share this piece on the donor-NGO relationship. Do you recognize yourself? 

Case study 1: Improving donor-grantee relationships by expanding ways of seeing

Reviewing funding challenges in Organisation 1, the consultant found on-going mutual tension between staff and a key donor. The donor felt that responses around grant proposals were consistently late and did not answer clearly the questions that they asked. Staff was equally frustrated by constant questions from the donor and a sense that these were a burden on their time. 

The consultant suggested using the experience as a case study, asking staff to print out all the emails between the donor and the organisation and analyse both what the donor had been requesting and what staff had been providing in response using the key question ‘what is the mystery? 

The consultant explains: ‘What we realised was that the donor was asking for bigger picture analysis and direction, and the staff kept responding with detail which did not answer these larger strategic questions. We also related that to the broader challenge within the organisation of focusing on responding to immediate needs of their constituency, and moving from project to project, while not always ‘flying above’ to see how it all hangs together. 

The organisation was also failing to meet donor deadlines, and we began to understand that this was due to a lack of clear responsibility amongst the staff around who was tasked to respond. Staff did not see the point of the donor questions, saw responding to them as a chore, and would pass the responsibility around. 

There was a lot of antagonism around it. When the group realised what the donor had actually been asking for, and what they had been doing in response, there was hysterical laughter in the room and the sense that ‘now we realise why this is not working’. 

The group went on to refine their Theory of Change. They understood that the donor actually wanted to know how the projects linked to their broader mission and promise to the world. A few weeks later, the donor visited and they presented their work with this big picture view– both staff and the donor were relieved, it was like a reconciliation!’

Monique Salomon, coordinator of Tshintsha Amakhaya

Click to Access the report: Horn, Jessica 2013. Inspiring soulful organizations. A pilot in capacity development for Ugandan women’s rights organisations. Hivos Knowledge Programme 13.