Successes and challenges in funder collaboration: Lessons from the northwest regional convergence partnership

In 2011, the national Convergence Partnership issued an RFP inviting proposals from local and regional foundations to strengthen funder collaboration in order to advance equity-driven policy and environmental change strategies to improve opportunities for healthy eating and active living. The Northwest Health Foundation developed and submitted a proposal in collaboration with the Meyer Memorial Trust (the second-largest philanthropic funder in Oregon) and Kaiser Permanente Northwest. NWHF, MMT and KPNW had all made substantial investments in improving food systems and access to affordable, healthy food, but had been approaching their food systems work through different lenses, and had funded partners with different goals and geographic scopes. The three funders used the Convergence funding opportunity to work more closely at the intersection of their shared interests to achieve a more significant community impact.

The resulting $300,000 pooled fund was used to diversify the food system movement in the Pacific Northwest, convene partners to identify and advance common goals, and deepen community expertise on how to create regional food systems that are healthier, more equitable, sustainable and economically robust. The author will identify both the successes and challenges of the partnership, and the factors that facilitated or hindered the achievement of their collective goals.