Diana Rhoten, Ph.D.
October 2002
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ABSTRACT
In recent years, collaboration has become a watchword in the practice of philanthropy. And while the trend toward collaboration between foundations and other external partners has been well documented, such partnerships were not the focus of this study. Instead, the present situation–that is to say, increasingly complex problems to be addressed, coupled with sharply decreasing foundation endowments in a down economy–highlights an increasingly urgent need to understand the practice of collaboration within philanthropic organizations. Specifically, our concerns were if and how such collaboration might increase the overall quality and effectiveness of grantmaking, particularly in today’s difficult philanthropic environment.

This report, then, examines the notion of intra-organizational collaboration: the internal networks of individuals, teams, and programs within a foundation.

The Hybrid Vigor Institute, which conducted this research, is a organization dedicated to solving complex social and scientific problems which require input from a broad range of expertise, and thus have overwhelmed the capabilities of traditional, specialized methods of inquiry and organizational hierarchies. The intention of the Institute’s research in its Interdisciplinary Practice program area is to record and improve the methods used by specialists and subject experts to communicate effectively across the boundaries of their expertise.

For this study, data was gathered from interviews with 29 representatives of 17 foundations, and from conversations with nine philanthropy consultants and/or researchers. Questions around “why” or “when” to collaborate, although clearly important and valid, were generally outside the scope of this report: instead, we bounded our research with the assumption that intraorganizational collaboration is both valuable and desirable. We likewise limited our sample to relatively large, private foundations that had experience with the practice of internal collaboration, albeit with significant differences on other organizational dimensions. As a result, despite its size and initial boundary conditions, our sample represents a range of organizational type, size, geography, purpose, approach and focus. Interview data were supplemented with data from foundation documents, including annual reports, budget memos, grantmaking guidelines, etc. In addition, multiple perspectives were sought within each foundation when possible.

Given that the practice of such collaborations is not sufficiently formalized to yield an answer to how internal collaboration affects grantmaking, we focused on more preliminary issues: What are the emerging forms of intra-organizational collaboration within philanthropic foundations? and Are these internal collaborations affecting the process and performance of grantmaking?

Although the forms and effects were varied, the interviews revealed large areas of agreement about the need for, difficulties of, and issues with intra-organizational collaboration. The result is a collection of stories about foundations’ unique experiences with the practice, from which some preliminary, general themes can be identified.