Working With Intermediaries Strategically

Some large foundations are increasingly turning to intermediary organizations that have knowledge and proximity—and the trust of the communities in which they are operating—to serve as a bridge between them and their intended beneficiaries. Generally, these foundations use intermediaries for regranting, pooled funding, capacity building, program design and management, and fiscal sponsorship. While important, these functions are commissioned by foundations to serve their role as funders, usually with a goal of improving efficiency, providing capacity building assistance to grantees, and/or diversifying their investment portfolios to include small or community-based organizations. There is a desire, as Tom David in a recent report for the California Endowment notes, "to redefine the role of intermediaries from transactional agents of the foundation to agents of transformation that advance power-building and racial equity as core functions." 

In 2022, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), as part of our efforts to incorporate community voice, to build and bridge power, and to center the dismantling of structural racism in our work, commissioned Cynthia Gibson and Maria Mottola to explore and make recommendations as to how to better partner with intermediaries, and current and potential grantees. This approach aims to harness the collective power, wisdom, and resilience of partners and communities to eliminate structural barriers to health and wellbeing. The latter reflects the Foundation’s belief that the people closest to the problems have the knowledge and lived experience needed to be the most effective co-creators in changing systems and making structural reforms. It is also an example of the kind of work RWJF is doing to ensure equitable philanthropic practices and processes.

This report summarizes findings from an extensive field and literature scan and interviews with 30 informants, including practitioners, funders, researchers, consultants, and staff members from several foundations. The report makes recommendations for foundations to consider in identifying and working with intermediaries to support racial equity, power sharing, and community voice. An adaptable tool was also created to help foundation staff navigate decision-making points and options for determining when and how to best work with intermediaries.