TRANSFORM!: Empowering philanthropy as catalysts for collaborative transformation

With multiple crises, and exacerbated by the decimation of international aid budgets, the world desperately needs to unlock the resources, innovation and collective power of public-private-people collaboration to deliver systemic, transformational development.  

Philanthropy has an essential, catalytic role to make this happen at scale.

To achieve this, the sector must develop a partnering mindset,  institutional partnering capabilities, and new ways of working to effectively drive collaborative transformation. 

In part as a response to the global ‘polycrisis’, and now given new urgency by the major cuts in international development aid, many foundations are seeking to raise their ambition and deliver far more deep-seated, accelerated transformational development, by working across societal sectors in multi-sector partnerships (MSPs). 

MSPs can harness the collective resources of the public sector (regulation, policy, public services and infrastructure, sovereign borrowing), the private sector (technology, commercial models, its products and services, investment), NGOs (technical knowledge, capacity development, social capital), communities (the people) and investors (financing).  

When well-designed and sustainably implemented, these partnerships can shift systems to a more just, equitable and resilient state, tackling root causes and enabling long-term, self-sustaining impact. 

TPI’s recent report on Public Private Philanthropy Partnerships (PPPPs) demonstrates this potential—from just energy transitions and regenerative supply chains to community-led healthcare and innovative rural infrastructure models. 

Yet transformation does not happen by chance. Philanthropy has a critical role to play in providing the essential ‘activation energy’, the drive and momentum, political influence, trust-building, neutral convening power and process management, technical knowledge and seed funding that can overcome the barriers to catalyse collective action, inspire new thinking and unlock investment at scale.  

To unlock the transformative potential of multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs), philanthropic organisations must shift mindsets, adopt new approaches, and build the institutional capabilities to collaborate effectively. 

Supported by the Laudes Foundation, and in association with WINGS and Philea, TPI undertook a comprehensive assessment of current and future ambition for philanthropy and MSPs, current practice and confidence to deliver on those ambitions, and a needs analysis of what it will take for foundations to drive transformational change through MSPs (see “Building foundations for collaborative transformation” report). 

However, the ambition is not well supported by institutional capabilities and funding modalities. Confidence for working with less familiar partners was generally low and despite strong leadership commitment, foundations in general are held back by a need for the necessary skills, structures and guidance to fully realise their collaborative potential and systemic change goals. 

This gap between ambition and capability suggests foundations need to invest in strengthening their institutional partnering capabilities – and those of their partners – to fully realise their transformational change ambitions.

TRANSFORM! is an ambitious global initiative to empower the philanthropic sector to catalyse MSPs that leverage the power of public and private sectors, people and investors to collectively deliver economic, social and/or environmental transformation.  

The initiative is a collaboration among The Partnering Initiative (an international leader in the theory and practice of multi-sector partnership), WINGS (the global network of philanthropy support organisations) and Philea (philanthropy Europe Association) with the ambition for future regional and national partners.

Through direct support to foundations, as well as research, case studies, best practice guidance and cascaded professional development, it aims to drive a step change in philanthropic sector partnering practice at a time when we need all hands on deck to address the world’s most pressing challenges. 

TRANSFORM! will contribute towards WINGS’ Philanthropy Transformation Initiative (PTI), specifically Principle 4 (Work with Others), for which TPI is a principle champion, and Principle 7 (Think about Root Causes). TRANSFORM! will also contribute to a better implementation of the Philea Manifesto ask 4: “Partner with Philanthropy” 

Combining WINGS and Philea’s networks and expertise, and TPI’s extensive experience supporting foundations such as Wellcome Trust, Jacobs, J&J and CIFF, the programme works as an ‘accompanying partner’, providing tailored support to enable foundations to unlock the power of MSPs and for their partnerships to thrive.  

Organisational support: 

• Strategy development: to provide clarity on maximising the contribution MSPs and other bilateral collaborations (e.g. with other philanthropy, government etc.) can make towards the foundation’s objectives 

• Fit for Partnering assessment to understand and address the extent to which an organisation’s leadership and strategy, systems and processes, staff capacities, and organisational culture are set up for effective and impactful partnering 

• Developing pro-partnering systems and guidance to optimize collaboration through effective funding modalities, processes, M&E and ways of working with less familiar partners 

• Staff / grantee professional development: to build partnering competencies, mindset, technical knowledge and understanding of less-familiar sectors such as government or the private sector 

• Case study creation to draw out experiences and learning for both internal and external dissemination. 

Partnership support: 

• Partnership development: Supporting the process of partnering from initial engagement, relationship-building and co-design through developing the governance, operational, financial and management structures and documentation 

• Partnership health check assurance and continuous improvement: Assessing how well a partnership is optimized and delivering effectively, plus support to address any issues and continuously improve the quality of the collaboration to best practice standards. 

TRANSFORM! aims to influence and support a shift of foundation sector practice in transformational MSPs. We are seeking partners to join Mercator, Laudes and the African Climate Foundation in engaging and supporting the professionalisation – and therefore effectiveness and impact – of multi-sector collaboration. 

The initiative is planning a comprehensive range of activities, including:  

• A Masterclass Series for philanthropy leaders and practitioners to be inspired by examples of transformational collaboration and, through a comprehensive set of modules, to build the mindset, skillset and deep understanding of less familiar partners such as government and business, to professionalise their own and their foundation’s collaborative practice. Masterclass Series is currently under development for launch in September 2025 with generous support from Mercator Foundation.  

• Co-developing partnership standards for plus partnership assurance and continuous improvement scheme to provide confidence to foundations and their partners that their partnerships are on a path to being setup and operating to best practice standards 

• Development of transformational partnerships M&E approaches, tools and guidance to support greater intentionality, iteration and stronger results-based management 

• Building a series of learning case studies of foundations partnering with the public and/or private sectors to inspire more foundations to increase their systemic impact through partnerships 

• Development of best practice for foundation-foundation collaboration 

• Facilitating communities of practice for foundations, including regular peer exchanges of partnership practitioners to learn from and with each other 

• Developing best practice guidance and tools for those who are designing and implementing partnerships between philanthropy and other sectors. 

Direct support to foundations 

TPI helps individual foundations to ensure that their partnerships (both those where they are a partner, and those where they provide funding) are set up and running to best practice standards and so can deliver the greatest impact. TPI also helps foundations to reflect on their current partnering practice, and optimise their institutional professional partnering capability, while contributing to learning on good practice for the whole sector. Examples include: 

• Wellcome Trust: TPI is working as an ‘accompanying partner’ to Wellcome Trust’s new Strategic Partnerships Team. Initiated through a ‘fit for partnering’ analysis to determine needs, TPI is helping to build up the partnering strategic approach, tools and processes (including around M&E) to help Wellcome to continue to excel at partnering. 

• Jacobs Foundation: TPI developed case studies of two Jacob partnerships, helping the foundation to take stock and draw out learning from their collaborations. 

• CIFF: TPI developed a training course to build many of the ‘soft’, human relationship-building skills needed to build equitable partnerships with grantees and beyond. 

• Porticus: TPI undertook a major piece of research, examining 14 of Porticus’s partnerships to understand a) in what ways and to what extent the partnerships were able to exploit collaborative advantage to deliver extra impact (i.e. more than the sum of their parts); and b) what were the enabling factors. A report is available below. 

• J&J Foundation: TPI undertook a ‘fit for partnering’ analysis of J&J Foundation to understand how to optimize its institutionally. To address one of the issues identified, we developed a partnership training course, and a partnering support portal, for J&J Foundation and J&J business staff, building their capabilities to develop more transformational partnerships. 

• Z Zurich: TPI undertook a healthcheck review of Z Zurich’s Flood Resilience Alliance (now the Climate Resilience Alliance), helping the Alliance to develop a new, cooperative operating model to maximise partnership value creation, leading to a step-change in the impact the Alliance could deliver. 

Building foundations for collaborative transformation: a philanthropy sector needs analysis

Developed with WINGS and Philea, this comprehensive needs assessment uncovers the barriers holding back collaboration—and shines a light on the practical changes needed to unlock philanthropy’s full potential. Moving beyond traditional grant-making, the report calls on the sector to embrace its unique power to convene, take risks, and drive deep, systemic change through cross-sector partnerships.

RPLC and Partnership: How the Regenerative Production Landscape Collaboratives benefit from partnership

Developed with Laudes Foundation, this original research reveals how the Regenerative Production Landscape Collaboratives (RPLC) harness the power of multi-stakeholder partnerships to transform agricultural systems across four countries, creating sustainable livelihoods for farmers while regenerating ecosystems through innovative collaboration between government, business, and civil society organizations.

Systems Change Activation: Empowering philanthropy’s catalytic role in transformational PPPPs

Developed with Laudes Foundation and the African Climate Foundation, in association with WAPPP, this original research and thought piece draws on the real experiences of 46 PPPPs around the world. It is designed to inspire and equip philanthropy with knowledge and insights to play its essential role in providing the ‘activation energy’ that can unlock the power of transformational Public-Private-Philanthropy Partnerships (PPPPs).

Partnering for Philanthropic Impact

Developed in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Foundation and the Z Zurich Foundation, this report sets out a framework to help make sense of the different ways in which philanthropic organisations can approach partnering to increase their impact (see below), as well as initial thinking on what foundations need to do to transform and build their institutional capacity to optimize their partnering.

Better Together: A study on the added value of collaboration in Porticus programmes

This report presents the findings of TPI’s analysis of partnership value creation across 14 Porticus programmes. From this analysis, the report identified four specific enablers of successful, value-creating collaboration funded by philanthropy.

Programme details

How the programme is funded 

Individual programmes are funded by the relevant foundation, typically also including funding to draw out and share learning more widely. The knowledge exchange and peer learning strand of the programme is supported by TPI itself, with foundations hosting and supporting specific peer-to-peer events. Sector practice development is funded by organisations with specific interests in the topics or keen to support the philanthropic sector to break new ground.

Programme lead 

Lina Kukulskyte

Interested in learning more? 

If you are a foundation interested in participating in the Partnering for Philanthropic Impact programme, please contact Tom Harrison (tom.harrison@tpiglobal.org)