The Fund for Shared Insight is a collaborative effort among seven funders that pools financial and other resources to make grants to improve philanthropy. Shared Insight is rooted in the belief that foundations will be more effective and thus make an even bigger difference in the world if they are more open. This includes both sharing what they are learning with others and listening to the perspectives of others, with a laser focus on listening to the people whom philanthropy ultimately seeks to help.

The Fund for Shared Insight expects to grant out $5 million or more each year for the next three years. The first round of grant decisions will be announced before the end of 2014. An open RFP process in the autumn of 2014 elicited almost 200 proposals across three categories:

• advancing the practice of non-profits and foundations using feedback loops to listen to, learn from and act on what we hear from the people we seek to help
• advancing the research base on integrating feedback from the people we seek to help so that it can better serve funders and practitioners, including the identification of leading indicators of change
• supporting the philanthropic infrastructure to create and/or expand efforts to increase foundation openness

‘We are thrilled with the enthusiasm in the field for new ways of listening and responding to the expressed needs and preferences of the people we seek to help with our funding, from students to the elderly and many in between,’ said Fay Twersky, co-chair of the Fund for Shared Insight and Director of the Effective Philanthropy group at the Hewlett Foundation.

The initial seven funders of Shared Insight are the David and Lucile Packard, Ford, JPB, Rita Allen, William and Flora Hewlett and W K Kellogg foundations and Liquidnet. Shared Insight is a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. The collaborative welcomes other funders to join this effort.

For more information

Contact Melinda Tuan at melinda@fundforsharedinsight.org

http://www.fundforsharedinsight.org