Funding Formula Stage 3

Donor Mapping: Researching Donors And Partners

1. What are donors and partners?

Donors are agencies, organisations, governments, businesses or individuals who give you grants, gifts, awards, donations-in-kind (for example, land or commodities that have a value to your organisation) or other funds for your work.  Partnering with other organisations is highly valued by donors – and necessary for working in a consortium for a large bid, for example.

Do you belong to alliances, associations, coalitions, committees, government panels, networks, parliamentary groups or other working groups? You can advocate and influence funding, programming and sexual and reproductive health policies, and these partners can assist you in your work; their skills may complement the strengths of your organisation. They can also promote you and your work to others. Partners can also include businesses and other Civil Society Organizations with whom you have a contract, for example, to provide training or capacity building. Mention all relevant partnerships in any publications, materials or funding proposals that you prepare, with their prior agreement.

2. Why should you undertake mapping?

Your organisation may be very successful and raise a lot of funding, but if this comes from only a few sources (for example, more than 25 per cent of your income is from only one donor), it is not sustainable. Continuous research is critical to find new sources of income.

Mapping your funding environment will make it easier to plan effective Resource Mobilization activities. Your funding environment comprises donors who already support your work, and potential donors who may fund similar Civil Society Organizations. It is important to map out who these donors are: find out what they support and how they may be relevant for your organisation’s strategic goals. 

3. How to sort your donors and partners

There are many different types of donor and partners, including:

• national government, including relationships with local government offices that your organisation chapters and clinics may build
• foreign governments: the national and international offices of international governments such as consulates, embassies, high commissions, overseas missions and posts
• multilateral organizations such as the agencies of the United Nations, The World Bank, the European Commission, the Regional Development Banks, and the African Union
• local donors: local and national businesses, companies, shops; charitable trusts and foundations; Civil Society Organizations; academic institutions; private or high net worth individuals
• international donors: international businesses, companies; charitable trusts and foundations; Civil Society Organizations; academic or research institutions; private or high net worth individuals

It may be useful to try to identify and group potential and current donors and partners like this:

Partnerships, Alliances and Relationships with Other Organizations

Public Sector	Private Sector	Civil Society
National government donors	Local  businesses, companies, corporations and shops	National Civil Society Organizations
Ministers	International businesses, companies and corporations	International Civil Society Organizations
Civil servants	Business associations	Advocacy groups working on sexual and reproductive health and rights issues
Policy makers and legislators	Professional associations	Media
Parliamentarians	Celebrities and public figures	Community groups
Local government officials	Influential individuals	Faith-based groups
Foreign governments, including  consulates, embassies, high commissions, overseas missions, and posts	High Net Worth Individuals	Universities and other academic / research institutions
Multilateral agencies, including the UN, World Bank, European Commission, African Union, Regional Development Banks	Local charitable trusts and foundations	Youth groups
	International charitable trusts and foundations	Programme beneficiaries

4. Where to find donor information

Websites are a good starting place. Look for donors’:

• organizational strategy 
• development agenda
• policy papers
• speeches by Ministers, Members of Parliament or other high-level dignitaries (these can sometimes give you more detail about their policies)
• annual reports
• other strategic documents, for example, their regional health strategy
• Corporate Social Responsibility / Community Engagement strategy 

You can also find donor information from:

• the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – it publishes statistics, analysis and reports of members of the Development Assistance Committee
• Devex – you can join for free, and receive daily bulletins, articles and bid information, including published information on donors’ interests and priorities
• Aiddata publishes statistics and other financial development data about donor trends and overseas aid
• annual reports for other Civil Society Organizations, where donors are listed. Find out what and who potential donors are currently funding
• Civil Society Organization coordination agencies, networks and movements
• private companies’ Corporate Social Responsibility policies, Community Engagement groups and newsletters

Tip: The most important source of donor intelligence is informal conversations had with key donor contacts.

5. What information to gather

5.1 Key contacts

Your should keep a record of key donor information including

• primary contact person: name, title, position and the responsibilities that position holds
• contact information: email address, postal address, telephone and fax numbers, website, Skype details

5.2 Funding priorities and focus areas 

Useful information includes:

• regional health (or sectoral) strategies
• funding policies
• focus countries or geographical priorities
• particular themes 
• targeted populations, for example, youth, urban poor

5.3 Alliances, committees, networks and working groups 

Find out about the donor’s relationships:

• is your contact a member of a national government committee?
• do they participate in a working group? 
• what roles and responsibilities do they have? 
• what are their specific interests around sexual and reproductive health? Websites such as LinkedIn may have a wealth of information about your contact.

5.4 Giving history

Look at the donor’s total annual giving, the range of grant sizes and types of projects they have funded. Who is the donor supporting now? What kind of project are they funding? How much are they spending? Can you find out why (for example, is it in line with their regional health strategy)?

5.5 Funding mechanisms

Find out about budgets and grant cycles; for example, are grants disbursed annually? If so, when? Is funding single or multi-year? How does the donor want to receive requests for funding – through unsolicited proposals, or structured application processes; through concept notes; or tenders for bids? What are the grant application procedures?

5.6 Types of Activities that the Donor Supports

Establish whether the donors funds service delivery, advocacy, public education – or all of these.

5.7 Types of Support

Find out whether the donor prefers to give, for example, one-off grants, start-up funding, project-based (restricted) grants, general support (unrestricted), loans, commodities, or in-kind donations. 

5.8 Grant Management Procedures

Look at project management and reporting requirements. If you secure a grant, could you fulfil the terms of the contract? Could you deliver the project results to budget and on time? Could you submit correct narrative and financial project reports? See more on Compliance in Stage 6.

6. A donor database

Store all the grant information and donor intelligence in a place that others can access, to support organizational learning and so that institutional memory is not lost when staff leave. Below is an example of how the information can be displayed:

Donor	Details	Information / Intelligence
Donor name
Type of donor
Primary contact person	NameTitle / Responsibility
Contact information	Postal address Email address Telephone Fax number Website Skype address
Primary liaison	Staff member managing the relationship  Date relationship established
Funding priorities	Geographical Sectoral/thematic
Giving history	Total annual giving Range of grant sizes Average grant size
Funding mechanisms	Grant cycles Single or multi-year
Types of activities funded	Service delivery Advocacy Education/other
Types of support (donors can provide more than one kind of support)	One-off grants  Start-up funding  Project funding  Core support  Loans Commodities In-kind donations
Proposal process	Unsolicited proposals Application process Concept note Bid tender
Existing grants	Name/type of project Name/type of grantee Why – eg. part of national/regional strategy?
Communication history	Date of meeting Name(s) of attendees Details of conversation