Mary Ann Littell

There's power in numbers—particularly when talking about donor collaboration. While collaboration is not a new idea in philanthropy, its importance has grown as donors seek to maximize the impact of their giving. More and more philanthropists realize that joining forces may be the best way to address complex social problems.

Donor collaborations come in many shapes and sizes. Some are as informal as sitting around a table to share information. Others are more formalized, with pooled funding, governance, and administrative structure. Collaborations develop around relationships and shared interests. By working together funders leverage the resources of many groups to tackle a larger agenda, tougher issue or long-term challenge. Collaboration also offers a way for funders to make an impact in areas where they are not experts.

For the past four decades The New York Community Trust has been an innovator in collaboration, partnering with more than one hundred other funders to pursue common goals. NYCT has been home to approximately 20 collaborative funds, distributing $104 million to a variety of organizations. We continue to play a leadership role, putting our dollars and the dollars of others to excellent use and educating other institutions in collaborative grantmaking along the way.