Best Practice Philanthropy: The Snow Foundation
LR: Snow Foundation Board members and team, along with Jessica Mendoza-Roth and some of the Snow Entrepreneurs at the 2023 Impact Investment Summit.
Innovative and impact driven organisations are increasingly coupling direct grants with strategically delivered capability building support. One such funder is the Snow Foundation, who have employed this approach for the social enterprises they selected as 'Snow Entrepreneurs', as well as a select few other not-for-profit organisations who have received grants from the Snow Foundation. This case study explores this funding approach and details the benefits as experienced by those involved in a pioneering wrap-around support program for early-stage social enterprises.
What is capability building?
Despite being in vogue for quite some time, capability building as a term lacks a commonly agreed-upon definition and can mean slightly different things to different groups. Broadly speaking, however, it refers to any intentional and sustained effort to improve an organisation's functioning, including but not limited to activities related to enhancing communications, strategy, financial management, leadership development, management and governance, measurement and evaluation, systems and processes, and technology. The concept differs from direct grantmaking in that it concentrates on building performance and functioning capabilities and, when successful, strengthens an organisation's ability to meet its mission and positively impact lives and communities.
Regardless of the specific organisational areas capability building seeks to strengthen, it is arguably still a significantly underemployed grant making approach. It is this premise that underpins the support philosophy of the Social Impact Hub, which is exemplified in our work to support the Snow Entrepreneurs program.
What is the Snow Entrepreneurs program?
Snow Entrepreneurs with Geoff Briggs at the Snow Entrepreneurs Retreat; Willinga Park in NSW. Image: Dean Dampney
The Snow Entrepreneurs program, which launched in 2021 to mark the Snow Foundation’s 30th birthday, saw eight up-and-coming social entrepreneurs within the first cohort, and nine in the second cohort, receive anywhere between $100,000 and $200,000 of direct grant funding each, plus professional wrap-around support in the form of mentorship, business diagnostic sessions and tailored expert advisory services, all coordinated and delivered by the Social Impact Hub.
Unlike other grant programs that might provide capability building funding with the onus on the entrepreneur to source the appropriate assistance, the Snow Foundation collaborated with Social Impact Hub upfront, recognising the obvious but often under appreciated fact that social entrepreneurs are commonly time-poor and find it challenging to identify and engage the most suitable support. Many of the recipients greatly appreciated the fact that the Snow Foundation made it so easy for them - they were gifted the grant money and a package of tailored support that they did not have to source.
“We chose to collaborate with the Social Impact Hub because they have a wealth of knowledge, resources and experience in building the capability of social enterprises. There is no doubt that the high calibre of experts, plus the skilled and tailored matching and guidance provided by the Social Impact Hub have been a significant factor in enabling the Snow Entrepreneurs to really fast-track their growth and impact.”
What support is provided?
In addition to the grant funding and a facilitated community of peer learning and support, the Snow Entrepreneurs program sees each ‘Snowie' matched with tailored capability building support coordinated by Social Impact Hub and delivered by members of the Professional Impact Network (PIN).
The PIN is an innovative and selective member network of highly experienced business leaders, consultants, entrepreneurs and investors who deploy their expertise for social good.
The PIN was created in response to a growing need for flexible, more affordable, high-quality support and advice, as well as the Social Impact Hub's objective of wanting to share best practices and better capture and leverage business talent, skills and expertise to maximise social impact. With over 70 members and counting, the PIN is quickly becoming a transformative resource for the social impact sector as well as a professionally and personally rewarding experience for its members.
Three core elements of the support provided by the Social Impact Hub:
01. Diagnostic
A 'diagnostic' session is undertaken upfront with each Snow Entrepreneur to identify their key drivers for growth and impact, and explore the challenges and opportunities around these drivers. Led from start to finish by an experienced member of Social Impact Hub's Professional Impact Network, the diagnostic is specially designed to help a social enterprise pinpoint what it needs to thrive by focusing on the business, financial, legal and internal capability required to grow and amplify impact. Following the session, the PIN member prepares a custom insights report for the Snow Entrepreneur outlining areas for development and recommendations - both in terms of strategy and sequencing - to optimise opportunities to develop their organisation and amplify its impact. While the diagnostic process is an insightful and empowering experience, and the final report provides a practical roadmap and bite-sized action plan that helps entrepreneurs stay focused and on track, many often lack the bandwidth, skills and resources to action the recommendations and take advantage of the opportunities identified. Recognising this, the Snow Foundation funds a second very important component of support.
02. Advisory
Tailored advisory support has been provided to the Snow Entrepreneurs to help them make informed decisions, improve efficiencies, achieve their objectives and overcome obstacles. Tailored advisory is also delivered by members of the Social Impact Hub's PIN, who are matched based on their experience and skillset and the enterprise's priority needs as determined by the diagnostic. PIN members collaborate closely with Snow Entrepreneurs to understand their particular requirements and create tailored solutions, which can span multiple areas such as strategic planning, value proposition design, financial modelling, Theory of Change development and impact measurement. The tailored advisory support was so valuable to many of the Snow Entrepreneurs that in many cases it has been extended with additional support for second or third projects, which the Snow Foundation has generously agreed to continue to support.
03. Mentorship
The third element of the support program is a mentor from the Social Impact Hub’s Professional Impact Network. Feedback indicates that Snow Entrepreneurs highly value having an independent, knowledgeable and supportive mentor to help them navigate the opportunities, challenges and pressures of running a start-up.
“Having a mentor for me has been so helpful. I previously didn’t have anyone to speak to about how to navigate the rollercoaster of growing a social enterprise and how this intersects with life. So instead of becoming overwhelmed, I’m able to grow more, be a better leader for our community and create more impact through our work.”
The success of the program
The effectiveness of the capability-building arrangement and, therefore, the program's success is evident through the stunning and fast progress made by Snow Entrepreneurs. Already, three of the first eight Snow Entrepreneurs have raised investment, including More Good Days (who raised $3.5m, led by venture capital firm Blackbird), Kindship (who raised more than $1m in crowd equity funding from more than 600 investors, many of them parents of children with a disability, a strong endorsement from the community!) and Clean Slate Clinic (who are currently raising impact capital). Suffice to say, if funders want their grantees to flourish, exceed deliverables and targets, and supercharge their growth and impact, providing tailored, consistent, and well-planned supplementary capability support is like adding an untapped superpower to grant-making:
"Building a business is often lonely and always hard. The Snow Entrepreneur program has taught me to embrace the struggle and find joy in the process. The support has caused a chain reaction of extraordinary results. We feel better prepared than ever to give the impossible a go," reflected Loki Ball, Co-Founder and CEO at Performl.
The fact that the program is deliberately designed to meet each Snow Entrepreneur where they are at, assisting them in tackling their specific needs in bespoke, convenient, and pragmatic ways, is possibly the "secret sauce" to capability building success.
Building on this in collaboration with the Social Impact Hub, the Snow Foundation continues to evolve the support program with one goal in mind: providing the right, tailored support when and where it is needed to enable each entrepreneur to take their early-stage social change initiative to the next level.
Although this case study has focused on the Snow Entrepreneur program, the Snow Foundation has also funded Social Impact Hub to provide capability building support to other grantees of the Foundation, including The Violet Initiative, and the approach of providing tailored advisory support has been similarly successful in meeting their individual needs (although without the benefits of a cohort).
If we agree that it is incumbent upon grant makers to strive for better philanthropic practices, recognising the pivotal and valuable role philanthropy can play in building the capability of grantees should not be underestimated.
With many early-stage social purpose organisations significantly under-resourced and often heavily reliant on direct grants for personnel and programs, assigning auxiliary, earmarked funds for capability building is a powerful and cost-effective way to create a significant and sustained impact.