Over the past several decades, conservative philanthropy has provided a painful lesson in the power of long-term investment in people and institutions. By funding leadership pipelines, think tanks, and training ecosystems, they have reshaped the political landscape in ways that are reverberating around the world. As Inside Philanthropy and recent research have highlighted, this success did not happen by chance. It is the result of strategic, consistent and an ecosystem-wide approach to funding leadership and organizational development.
For civil society organisations committed to equity, justice, inclusive democracy and planetary wellbeing, this moment poses both a warning and a call to action. Too often, our sector’s investments in leadership and talent have been fragmented, short-term, or siloed. Without stronger pipelines, supportive ecosystems and bold funding in people power, we risk being consistently outpaced and outpowered.
That is why we are launching a benchmarking survey on the current state of leadership and talent development across civil society. This survey will help us to:
- Map existing investment levels and approaches across NGOs, funders and government institutions.
- Understand the skills and strategies being prioritised.
- Capture outcomes, challenges, and opportunities.
- Build a shared evidence base that can inform stronger, more strategic long-term commitments.
We can’t do this without you! Completing the survey (it takes about 15–20 minutes) will help build a sector-wide benchmark report that we can all use to guide our strategies, approach and investment that will strengthen civil society leadership to turn this trajectory around.
The survey is completely confidential: all data will be analysed in aggregate, and individual organisations will not be identified unless you choose otherwise.
We hope you will take part, and invite partners and allies in your networks to do the same. By pooling our insights, we can begin to shift the narrative from short-term project outcomes to long-term people power and ensure our values, leaders, and movements endure in the decades ahead.
We will release the findings and insights from this research later this year. If you would like to be the first to receive the report, make sure you have signed up for the MobLab newsletter here.
And huge thanks to M+R and your annual benchmark report now in the 20th year for the inspiration! We hope to follow in your footsteps providing actionable insights for the sector for many years to come.
Categories:
culture and leadershipmeasuring people powerorganising, mobilising and engagementstrategytesting, learning and iteration
