“The Deloitte report picks up on this idea, citing research from Giving USA which found that ‘individual donors give more than four times as much as institutional funders.’ In response, foundations are ‘Catalyzing Leverage’ (Edge 3) to pool their resources and create the kind of impact that they couldn’t make on their own while attempting to match the impact of major individual donors. Examples include the anti-poverty collaborative fund Blue Meridian Partners (which also involves major living donors and their foundations) and the James Irvine Foundation’s partnership with the Entertainment Industry Foundation to develop a career pathway program.
Returning to the concept of risk, collaborative work can allay some of that, while at the same time letting philanthropic players—like those involved in Blue Meridian—amplify the impact of their funding as they operate beside a public sector whose overall level of resources dwarfs them.”