This week some 750 people from foundations, investment firms, impact funds, banks and others met to discuss how to invest more effectively for impact, at the annual conference of the European Venture Philanthropy Association.
Among the dozens of conversations Pioneers Post heard, here are five great ideas that jumped out to us.
1. Reconsider whether grantees still expect “free money”
The UK-based Rank Foundation recently started issuing what it calls ‘repayable grants’ – prompted by a suggestion from one of its grantees. The term sounds contradictory, and other funders have suggested they don’t work. But deputy CEO Caroline Broadhurst said one of the several repayable grants the foundation has made so far, which average around £100,000, has just been repaid in full, and payments for the others are on track so far.
“It’s a sort of social contract,” Broadhurst said, adding that expectations of free money have moved on. Grantees, she said,“don’t expect everything just handed to them”.
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