At Lever for Change, we believe in meeting organizations where they are to build success. One of the unique aspects of competition grant-making is creating a more leveled playing field for organizations of all sizes and experience levels to receive funding.
While we believe that our Bold Solutions Network members are the true experts in their respective fields, we want to equip them with the tools and resources to make their case and consider new aspects of their work to leverage better outcomes for the communities they serve. Before awardees are selected, finalist organizations become full-fledged Bold Solutions Network members and receive technical assistance to amend and expand upon their ideas before submitting final revised proposals. To ensure that we support finalists in our challenges, we provide technical assistance via our social impact partners. Over the course of several months, finalists have the opportunity to not only fine-tune their $10M+ idea but better align their organizational strategy and goals.
The revised proposal is a more fleshed-out version of an applicant's initial proposal. It is a cohesive plan and roadmap that details the problem, theory of change, implementation plan, measurement and evaluation strategy, expected risks and solutions, and considerations for budget, diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. All finalists are provided with a framework but are encouraged to make the prospectus their own, reflecting their values, culture, and mission. Once finalists are chosen and oriented to our process, they are connected to one of our social impact partners, who will serve as their technical advisor. They will meet with on a bi-weekly basis to perfect the technical aspects of their proposal. Our partners, including The Bridgespan Group, Dalberg Advisors, and IMAGO Global Grassroots, have teams of innovative organizational strategy consultants who have served as technical advisors to finalist teams.
The Big Picture
Our social impact partners create a space for finalists to think critically about their destination and how they plan to get there. Every bold solution starts with a solid founding theory of change to unlock impact. This process allows organizations to critically reflect on their assumptions, work through strategic obstacles, and envision specific positive outcomes for the communities they serve. Developing a theory of change helps finalists clearly articulate a logical pathway forward, identify resources and activities to prioritize, and connect intended outputs to feasible inputs.
“It gave us that freedom of taking a step back and really reflecting on the work that we have been doing the past 20 years. We are so happy we got the award, even if we didn’t, we feel that the process would have made us a lot stronger because then we still could have used the proposal as our roadmap.”
Jenny Arwade, Co-Executive Director, Communities United
For example, for our Climate 2030 challenge, many of our finalists had not thought deeply about how their solutions to curb carbon emissions could incorporate DEIA strategies. Our technical advisors, including Mobility International USA, worked with organizations to add inclusivity considerations to their proposals – including how people living with disabilities are disproportionately burdened by the consequences of climate change-related weather events or how there is a lack of disability diversity in the decision-making process and climate-proofing industry. Teams were able to budget for accessibility outreach and engage disability advocates to better inform their project implementation.
“It gave us that freedom of taking a step back and really reflecting on the work that we have been doing the past 20 years. We are so happy we got the award, even if we didn’t, we feel that the process would have made us a lot stronger because then we still could have used the proposal as our roadmap,” shared Jenny Arwade, Co-Executive Director of Communities United, one of our Bold Solutions Network members
Building a Rapport and Planning for the Future
The technical assistance finalists receive is unique to our model and provides nonprofits with an opportunity to work with world-class consultants, a service that is financially out of reach for many nonprofits. While the focus of this engagement is on the finalists’ proposals, many teams have found that this experience can also be used to improve their organizational strategy and streamline their mission. Leaders in the social good sector are often strapped not only for resources and technical expertise but also for time to sit and strategize with their teams. Lever for Change acknowledges the time and resource commitment for finalists to put together a $10M+ proposal, so we try to make these services flexible and comprehensive to the organization's needs as a whole. Even if a finalist does not receive an award from the challenge, we hope the process will create lasting, positive institutional change and result in a ready-to-implement proposal that other donors can fund.
Over the course of the finalist stage, organizations become close with their technical advisors as they are seen as trusted partners for success. In addition to bi-weekly check-ins, our technical advisors provide office hours and workshops to provide deeper dives into specific topics and troubleshoot risks that pop up along the way. Technical advisors also read proposal drafts and provide feedback and outside perspectives – they become heavily invested in the teams’ growth and are always eager to read the final product.
“We feel privileged to be able to use our expertise to help these organizations as they tackle questions about their strategy, organizational effectiveness, monitoring and evaluation frameworks, and fundraising strategies, and help them to have even stronger positive impact in the communities they serve.”
Shyam Sundaram, Global Operations Partner, Dalberg Advisors
“Supporting changemakers is at the heart of what we do at Dalberg, and our work as TA partners alongside these amazing finalists is core to our mission,” says Shyam Sundaram, Global Operations Partner with Dalberg Advisors. “We feel privileged to be able to use our expertise to help these organizations as they tackle questions about their strategy, organizational effectiveness, monitoring and evaluation frameworks, and fundraising strategies, and help them to have even stronger positive impact in the communities they serve.”
As Lever for Change continues to reevaluate our wraparound technical support offerings to our Bold Solutions Network members both during and after a challenge, we know we could not do it without our valued social impact partners' invaluable thought partnership and expertise.
Interested in learning more about developing a theory of change, scaling, or measurement and evaluation strategies? You can check out our Resource Library, containing dozens of resources from our partners and experts in the field. You can also hear more from our Bold Solutions Network members on their experience with our challenges on our partner Submittable’s Impact Audio.