What makes collaboration worthwhile, and what makes it challenging?
Anyone who has been part of a funder collaboration knows it can be hard work. Navigating different internal bureaucracies, stepping outside of risk comfort zones, and moving at a different pace can be difficult. But the Festival made clear why, as funders, we should keep doing it. As Fozia Irfan (BBC Children in Need) put it during a session hosted by City Bridge Foundation:
“Whether it's inequality, whether it's poverty, whether it's homelessness, there's such a complexity to these issues, and no single funder can solve these problems alone”
Nat Jordan from City Bridge Foundation added that collaboration spaces have become places where funders feel more comfortable testing ideas - whether that’s core funding, long-term commitments, or systems change.
"In collaborative spaces, a lot of the times, especially ones where you're sharing power with community partners, you start to realise that success isn't just about metrics, it's very much about how you got there. You know, did we create change together? Did we listen? Did we create space for others to lead?"
- Ugo Ikokwu, Grants Manager at Trust for London and trustee at London Funders
Collaboration can also bring unexpected benefits and unlock new possibilities. The session hosted by Barclays, Smallwood Trust, and Family Action offered a powerful example of this. Over five years, their partnership across corporate, charitable, and community sectors has supported thousands of women to build confidence and employability skills, through grants, life skills programmes, and intensive one-to-one support. We heard how the partnership evolved over time, responding to the pandemic, cost-of-living crisis, and changing community needs. What started as a small pilot grew into a long-term relationship built on trust, flexibility, and shared learning.
Still, even when funders share a vision and values, collaboration can be challenging. Across multiple sessions, we heard that internal processes - reporting cycles, governance structures, and decision-making hierarchies - often slow things down. This was captured powerfully by Ugo Ikokwu, Grants Manager at Trust for London and trustee at London Funders, who reflected:
"One of the biggest challenges is around trust… we all come into the room with different organisational cultures, different priorities, different pressures"
"If you've worked in a certain type of way, in a very linear fashion, then this type of work [collaboration], which is much more complex, it can be more difficult to build that culture internally as well as with the collaboration"
- Fozia Irfan, Director of Impact and Influence, BBC Children in Need
This was also echoed in a session hosted by the Regenerative Futures Fund (a pooled, Edinburgh-based fund), where we heard that:
"No matter how compelling the external landscape is or what the appetite is, internal processes will always be one of the biggest blockers"
Collaboration, especially when it centres equity and power-sharing, asks funders to loosen their grip on control. This can feel uncomfortable, but it is often where the growth happens.
Why are more funders pooling?
The Festival highlighted how pooled funds are gaining traction across the sector, with five different initiatives - Migration Exchange, Power of Pop, Justice Together, The Democracy Fund and Regenerative Futures Fund - contributing insights from their collaborative models.
We heard how pooled funds enable funders to act more strategically, amplify a specific cause and maximise the value of their investment. People who are running the pooled fund will often have more direct knowledge and experience of that area of work, allowing them to make decisions that further the field in the best possible way. We also heard how these models allow funders to draw on specialist expertise and take collective risks that might be harder to shoulder alone. They offer a space for experimentation, flexibility, and learning - often enabling longer-term funding and participatory approaches that individual funders may struggle to deliver on their own.
"A pooled fund often effectively takes up a position between the funding and the field, and therefore needs to demonstrate value to both, which can at times be a challenge"
- Lena Baumgartner, Independent consultant
In one of the sessions, we heard from the researchers behind Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s report on pooled funds, Lena Baumgartner and Alice Sachrajda who said the main challenge is that “funders find it hard to share power, to relinquish control, which is a key feature of a pooled fund”. Pooled funds often have ambitious missions and the potential to add real value through thought leadership, convening, and field-building. But to deliver on that promise, they need to be properly resourced. That means multi-year, unrestricted funding, and a willingness from funders to cover core costs and overheads.
I think the concept of pooled funding and charitable funding is coming together, sharing resources for innovative strategies, and is in itself an innovative change-making strategy
- Maxine Thomas-Asante, Fund Lead, Power of Pop Fund
Overcoming the blockers
Although there are challenges, across the Festival, funders shared reflections on what enables collaboration to flourish. One attendee highlighted the importance of aligning decision-making structures with collaborative goals, noting:
"We’re all in the room to give power, but my decision maker isn’t. Our decision cycle takes four months, and we get stuck"
Rather than barriers, these reflections pointed to opportunities: involving legal and finance teams early, finding ways to bridge different governance processes, and pacing collaboration to respect the varied rhythms of partner organisations.
We heard that successful collaborations often depend on internal alignment as much as external partnership. That means making space for internal learning, building buy-in across departments and boards, and recognising that collaboration is not just a programme, it’s a culture shift. Several funders described how independent conveners can play a vital role in surfacing tensions and helping funders find compromise when their constraints clash.
There was also a strong emphasis on the importance of early and honest conversations: about what matters, what needs to be measured, and what each funder is willing to give up. Being clear about red lines, and revisiting them over time, was described as essential. Funders reflected that collaboration asks us to work differently, to sit in discomfort, and to let go of control. It also requires clarity and humility: a willingness to be led by others, to challenge assumptions, and to make space for those who are missing from the conversation. Many noted that collaboration design is not the same as programme design, and that not enough attention is paid to the relationships and trust that hold collaborations together. Without that glue, even well-funded programmes can falter.
Ultimately, overcoming barriers means recognising that collaboration is not just external - it’s internal too. It’s about shifting culture, building trust, and creating space for discomfort. When relationships are prioritised and power is shared, collaboration becomes not just possible - but transformative for how we support those we fund.