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Effectiveness of US-style funder advocacy revealed

Fundraising | Vibeka Mair | 24 Jan 2012

The potential for collaboration between foundations and the government and the strong underlying tensions between the two groups have been exposed by a new review of a previous project carried out by a coalition of funders.

The Corston Independent Funders' Coalition (CIFC), a three-year collaboration of 22 grantmaking trusts and foundations, came together in 2008 to secure political commitment for the full implementation of the recommendations of the Corston Report 2007.

The report was a review of vulnerable women in the criminal justice system, commissioned by the Home Office following a tragic series of deaths at Styal Prison in 2002 and 2003.

Julia Kaufmann, former chief executive of BBC Children in Need Appeal, was commissioned to review the CIFC initiative. She launched the findings of her analysis yesterday in the House of Lords.

Kaufmann described the collaboration as "unique", saying it was rare in the UK, though not in the US, for funders to come together to engage in 'funder advocacy'. She said through working together the CIFC achieved outcomes that individual trusts and foundations could not have achieved alone.

Key results included the CIFC negotiating a joint rescue package with the Ministry of Justice and National Offender Management Service (NOMS) to provide bridging finance of £3m for 26 women's centres when local commissioning did not happen.

The Ministry of Justice recognise the importance of holistic women's centres and have agreed that in 2012/13 they will provide the total funding provided by Trusts and NOMS in 2011/12.

However, Kaufmann's review identified tensions with this joint provision: "Government interest in independent funders is primarily to do with their money, whereas trusts and foundations are keen to avoid the substitution of government funds.

"Funders should be clear and explicit about the conditions under which they will contribute funds."

She added that the terms of engagement needed to be carefully negotiated: "Joint funding can be contentious," she said. "Raising questions about who is exercising leverage and being accompanied by political pressure to meet targets and get money out of the door."

Prisons minister Crispin Blunt, who also spoke at the launch, welcomed the work of CIFC, and said that the MOJ would set up a national body supporting women's centres.

Blunt also said that, going forward, services for women in the criminal justice system needed to be holistic, including services which dealt with domestic abuse and drug abuse, for example. He also said that more commissioning at a local level would mean the voluntary and community sector would be more involved. 

The CIFC, which initially planned to be time-limited, plans to continue its advocacy work. The funders involved include the Bromley Trust, the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and the Nationwide Foundation.

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