31 March 2023

Fiduciary responsibility sits at the top of the accountability tree. What happens is that a funding agreement, or terms & conditions, places money where it's come from and how it's spent, as the thing to be accountable to, rather than to the mission that you're engaged in, even though there's a collective endeavour. - Joe Doran

It was an exciting moment for us to launch the open funding agreement playbook, as part of #BeyondTheRules, and we were so grateful for all of you who joined on 23 March.

<aside> <img src="/icons/expand_green.svg" alt="/icons/expand_green.svg" width="40px" /> The playbook aims to assist a shift in norms around funding contracts - as common and critical governance instruments in cross-organisational relationships and in moving money across systems.

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These contracts can legally embed a ‘charity’ mindset, maximising accountability to money and those who hold it (no matter the means accumulated), undermining the quality of work that the parties are trying to come together for; or they can acknowledge the responsibility to redistribute extracted finance towards common wealth, nurturing partnerships that are able to respond effectively in emerging contexts.

The playbook is one small tool in that process of rewiring funding logics, and sits as part of ecology of other important work to rewire how we move money for transformation. Mainly, it’s just a small step that can be done tomorrow to make agreements less harmful.

It aims to support funded groups to easily advocate for, negotiate and propose terms in funding contracts that can be generative for the intention of the work. It can be downloaded and tailored to the particular organisational context.

It can also be used by funders when re-writing the contracts that they issue, and we are happy to engage with any funders to share tips and ideas on how you can incorporate this into your contracts.

We don’t see this as a final product but just one version for others to build on and develop, as we learn in tandem. We invite you to share back your iterations so that we can continue this learning loop via this contact form.

A huge thank you to Cassie Robinson and Joe Doran who started this event sharing experiences and helping us to frame the context that we're in, including the context of funders who are looking to shift practice in philanthropy.

We have built this recap to help you dive back into what was shared through the event. We are excited to see where you take it next.

Thank you to all of you who are putting energy into building a beautiful, bold, micro revolution in how we build the world around us.

Public Portal Doorways

Why funding and partnership agreements?

Bilateral Funding Agreement Example Playbook