Supporting our partners

Alongside our grant-making, we strive to be purposeful, supportive partners. To this end, we work with our grantee partners to provide additional support if needed. This support includes: organisational development, to support organisations, and strengthen capacity areas they think are most important to deliver their mission; child safeguarding, in the interest of protecting children; monitoring and evaluation, to be better able to understand how we can improve our grant-making; and communications, to help ensure transparency around our grant-making and elevate the great work of our partners. 2022 was a busy year for all of the teams working on these areas. Read on to find out more.

Capacity Building

In 2022, following the release of the 2022 Grantee Perception Report, we assessed the data specific to capacity building to see where grantee partner support could be scaled up and enhanced. The results show that 64 per cent of partners receive capacity building support, the highest figure to date. The data also revealed that more than 50 per cent of partners in every Oak programme have received capacity-building support. To make sure our capacity-building support continues to serve partners’ needs, we are working on updating our strategy with the support of Sense Lab, a consultant based in Brazil.

In addition, because we believe in the importance of providing tailored support to our partners, Oak made a pilot grant to the Nonprofit Builder (NPB), a platform that connects our partners with local, on-demand capacity-building support. The Nonprofit Builder puts capacity building into the hands of partners, letting them freely contact any of the 100+ consultants on the platform to complete an organisational development project of their choice. In July, ESCA CancerSupport, a partner of the Special Interest Programme, was the first Oak partner to use the platform, connecting with Fieldsend Consulting for support with a new fundraising strategy. We are now considering other opportunities to scale up this capacity-building support to more partners.

In July, ESCA CancerSupport, a partner of the Special Interest Programme, was the first Oak partner to use the platform, connecting with Fieldsend Consulting for support with a new fundraising strategy. We are now considering other opportunities to scale up this capacity-building support to more partners.

Six Housing and Homelessness Programme partners completed Kairos leadership coaching this summer. The Kairos Project provides professional support for “any person, team or organisation striving for a better future”, including leaders of not-for-profit organisations. It aims to build confident leaders who are equipped to manage complex environments and challenges. The all-female cohort of the Housing and Homelessness Programme’s not-for-profit leaders reported positive experiences with the coaching. You can read more about this on the stories page on the Oak website.

We believe that training and support for organisational development projects are essential for the strengthening and sustainability of organisations. We want our support to be more than simply funding. We also see the importance of strengthening the work of our partner organisations. If you are a partner of Oak Foundation, please speak to your programme officer to find out more about the support you can receive.

Child Safeguarding

We are determined to put children first in all that we do. In the interest of protecting all children everywhere, we ask our partners to do the same.

In the interest of protecting all children everywhere, we ask our partners to do the same. In 2022, we reviewed the results of the Grantee Perception Survey, and learned that child safeguarding is the most common form of capacity-building support, with 21 per cent of all Oak partners receiving this form of assistance. More than 80 per cent of partners surveyed rated Oak’s child-safeguarding support positively, and in particular, appreciated the quality of the support and the collaborative approach. Judging from the results of the Grantee Perception Survey, Oak’s child-safeguarding work with partners appears to be well aligned with its principles and is impactful for partners.

In 2022, we reviewed the results of the Grantee Perception Survey, and learned that child safeguarding is the most common form of capacity-building support, with 21 per cent of all Oak partners receiving this form of assistance. More than 80 per cent of partners surveyed rated Oak’s child-safeguarding support positively, and in particular, appreciated the quality of the support and the collaborative approach. Judging from the results of the Grantee Perception Survey, Oak’s child-safeguarding work with partners appears to be well aligned with its principles and is impactful for partners.

In addition, a number of partners shared their positive experiences with safeguarding support through Oak. Hill Learning Center, a US-based school programme that supports nearly 800 young people with learning differences per year and a longstanding partner of Oak’s Learning Differences Programme, partnered with Darkness to Light to improve and grow in safeguarding practice. In addition, Raising Voices, a not-for-profit organisation based in Kampala, Uganda and a partner of Oak’s Prevent Child Sexual Abuse Programme, undertook similar work with the Impact and Innovations Development Centre to develop a locally rooted safeguarding policy. You can read more about these organisations’ successes on the stories page on the Oak website.

We launched the online safeguarding self-audit in April 2021. By the end of 2022, more than 400 partners had filled in the self-audit. This assessment helps Oak programme staff better understand how partners come into contact or work with children throughout the grant-cycle, and shows the safeguarding measures our partners have in place or need to develop. In addition, the system allows partners to request safeguarding support in case of shortcomings.

After a year of collaboration with the Funder Safeguarding Collaborative (FSC) since it was founded in 2021, we are proud to report that membership expanded to 64 organisations in 2022. The collaborative aims to support and strengthen safeguarding practices globally by promoting collaboration, listening, and learning among funders and partner organisations.

We will continue to accompany our partners on their safeguarding journeys, offering support and resources. If you are a partner of Oak Foundation, please speak to your programme officer to find out more about the support you can receive.

Monitoring & evaluation

At Oak Foundation, we strive to maximise the impact of our grant-making. Using evidence of what works and embedding reflective practice in our routines are essential to achieving this.

During 2022, our programmes continued to create spaces for reflection and intentional learning, and improve their ability to collect and use data. Our programmes frequently use external reviews, evaluations, and analysis to better understand the rapidly changing context and to support fit-for-purpose solutions. We are also exploring the most effective ways to learn together with our partners. We work to ensure that those closest to the problems can have access to the latest insights and knowledge. Internally, we continue to improve our tracking systems so we can understand whether we are making progress, while being respectful of the reporting burden of our partners.

Internally, we continue to improve our tracking systems so we can understand whether we are making progress, while being respectful of the reporting burden of our partners.

We believe in the power of collaboration and the need to build and share our collective knowledge. In 2022, we engaged with other funders and re-granters to streamline reporting requirements and share best practices, based on what we are hearing from our partners. We value feedback and ideas, and we believe it will make us better funders.

Communications

Good communication helps ensure transparency around our grant-making and elevates the voices of those who are the least heard. In 2022, communications continued to play a central role in Oak’s operations.

In addition to our twice-yearly Oak-wide newsletters, our annual report, and our social media channels, the stories page on our website helped bring to life the work of our grantee partners and their efforts to make the world a safer, fairer, and more sustainable place. It is our honour to be able to raise the voices of the people that benefit from the great work of our partners around the world. In addition, the Communications team helped facilitate the Oak-wide global staff retreat, which took place in the summer in the beautiful city of Lyon, France. It was wonderful to meet up with our colleagues again and to be collectively encouraged to think strategically going forward about the best ways to continue supporting the great work of our partners.

Oak values communications as a vehicle for social change and provides funding for communication initiatives within our programmes. We also support capacity-building efforts to expand global and local efforts to improve communications. Please contact your programme officer if you are an Oak partner and would like to hear more.

We love to hear success stories from our partners so please reach out to the Communications team at commdept@oakfnd.org. We are also open to feedback – so please let us know if you think we can improve our communications.