Access to financial support is critical for many Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISE) operating in Australia, yet can be difficult to secure. The WISE Open Grant Round aims to simplify and streamline access to financial support for WISE through bringing together seven of Australia’s leading funding agencies.
Through the WISE Open Grant Round, Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation, English Family Foundation, Macquarie Group Foundation, Mindaroo Foundation, Paul Ramsay Foundation, Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation, and Westpac Foundation have worked as ’Partner Organisations' and navigated both the design of the initiative, as well as its implementation, including all EOI and applicant facing processes and communications, shortlisting and selection procedures. The collaborative nature of the WISE Open Grant Round brought with it the additional requirement of working across the needs and interests of partner organisations, each with their own preferences, contexts, and drivers.
This interim evaluation report of the WISE Open Grant Round explores the initial experiences of Partner Organisations, as well as Grant Applicants and Recipients in working in this new model, and applying to a collaboratively developed opportunity. It seeks to understand the processes involved in mobilising the engagement of diverse funding agencies, how they navigate strategic and operational choices, the challenges in working together, how to balance the need for individual and shared ambitions, and the conditions that are required to foster good funder-funder collaboration. It also seeks to understand the initial experiences of WISE in applying to this open grant round, and the challenges and enablers they encountered in doing so.
This evaluation involved interviews with Partner Organisations, analyses of applicant forms and data, and feedback from successful and unsuccessful WISE. As an interim evaluation report, this document provides an overview of the formation of the collaboration, and the initial experiences of participants: future work will seek to understand how the collaboration has changed over time, and the enduring value and challenges that Partner Organisations derive and encounter from working together.
Findings from this round of data collection suggest that:
- A functional and collaborative process and structure has been created for Partner Organisations to work together, which has facilitated good engagement from a range of funding agencies.
- Strong stewardship and leadership was essential for generating collaborative momentum among Partner Organisations – from the early stages of coming together, through to more operational project work.
- Good collaboration in this context has required significant work from Partner Organisations, and regular dialogue to make shared decisions. The level of required engagement was above what some had expected.
- Meeting the needs and interests of Partner Organisations in shortlisting and selection processes has been challenging, but possible, and has required thoughtful negotiation, debate and deliberation to ensure that funding is administered in ways that align with the varied perspectives of partners.
- Grant applicants have reported that the process has been helpful in streamlining their access to philanthropic funding.
- Unsuccessful applicants (at both the EOI and full application stages) would benefit from further information regarding their applications, including reasons for their lack of success, and opportunities for strengthening applications in the future.
The signs are strong that the WISE Open Grant Round has been welcomed by Partner Organisations and WISE, and that good foundations have been laid for ongoing collaboration to support positive outcomes for philanthropy, and the WISE sector.
Document Downloads
WISE Grant Interim Insights and Learning Report
Case Study: supporting WISE through a collaborative grant round
Guiding principles for partnerships in philanthropy: insights from the WISE Grant Round
