Seeking Funding Partners for Social Issue Tracks

• Are you a philanthropist eager to get to know effective local nonprofits?
• Would your foundation benefit from the support of SIF to source and vet potential grantees?
• Do you want to broaden your understanding of critical social issues and work with others to identify and accelerate solutions?
• Are you interested in an opportunity to leverage your impact by strengthening innovative nonprofit organizations and helping them grow?

If the answer is yes, consider becoming a Social Issue Track Partner with the Social Innovation Forum.

Track Partnership is hands-on learning opportunity for individual donors, family foundations, and institutional funders eager to expand their understanding of social issues affecting the greater Boston community and build their own capacity to identify and accelerate the most promising nonprofits working to solve these issues.

Track Partnership is hands-on learning opportunity for individual donors, family foundations, and institutional funders eager to expand their understanding of social issues affecting the greater Boston community. 

As a Track Partner you will benefit from the following:

• Support with defining an area of focus for your social issue track, including in-depth topical research.
• A robust market scan to identify nonprofit organizations offering innovative approaches to the social issue of your interest.
• A structured RFP and evaluation process in which you will learn alongside issue area exerts, other funders, and the SIF team as you get to know a range of effective nonprofits. The process includes facilitated interviews and site visits with the leadership of the vetted organizations.
• The opportunity to accelerate the growth of one particular nonprofit through the Social Innovator Accelerator, while raising the profile of the issue area and providing much-needed resources and support to several other finalists on your track.
• Visibility for your foundation as a key partner building capacity in a sector that’s important to you.

SIF offers several track partnership options for funders, including single, shared, and collaborative social issue tracks, and spots remain open for the 2019-2020 cycle scheduled to launch in June 2019. Please contact Carolyn Shaughnessy, Donor Engagement Officer, at cshaughnessy@socialinnovationforum.org for more information.

Curious to learn more about past track partner experiences? Check out these blog posts:

• The Who What Where When and Why of Track Partnership
• Eight Funders Support Collaborative Track Focused on Immigrants, Refugees, and Asylum-Seekers
• A Funder’s Experience with SIF by Christine Kendall, SmarterGive / Gisela B. Hogan Foundation 
• The Story of A Women & Girls Funding Collaborative and 2016 Social Innovator Budget Buddies
• Funder Spotlight: Schrafft Charitable Trust
• Funder Spotlight: Steve and Ellen Segal