Capacity: is about resources. This refers to how ecosystem organisations impact the volume of resources deployed for social impact, their sustainability, and strategic application.
Capability: is about building knowledge, skills, and professionalism in the sector that enables effective use of resources. This would include developing and sharing good practices, setting benchmarks and standards, as well as developing norms for sector governance.
Connections: is about collaboration, communication, and influence. Often ecosystem organisations can convene independent, nonpartisan spaces for cross-sectoral dialogue, learning, exchange and collaboration. More importantly, such spaces contribute to developing a coherent sector vision and voice, enabling the sector to influence policy and regulatory environments. Through strong communication, ecosystem organisations set a positive narrative for the sector as well as enrich public discourse and debate on critical issues.
Credibility: is about legitimacy, trust, and transparency. Ecosystem organisations are often best positioned to champion greater transparency and openness among both philanthropies and social impact organisations as they are placed outside these groups and have the collective sectoral mandate as opposed to thematic mandates (such as livelihoods, health etc.). They add to the public discourse on social impact and support advocacy for enabling fiscal and regulatory environments.
Our work, as a part of the ecosystem, is aligned to these 4Cs.
- Our research priorities on philanthropic flows and funding are designed to enable more strategic philanthropic action, thereby influencing sector capacity.
- The networks and platforms we have conceptualised, as part of our convening vertical, will contribute directly to greater connections both within and across the sectors, seeding a neutral, collective space for peer-learning, collaboration and norm-setting.
- Some of these initiatives will also contribute to increased transparency and accountability across the sector, thereby enhancing credibility.
- Our executive education and fellowship programmes directly impact sector capability by enhancing expertise on institution building, scale, governance and sustainability.