Funding Organisational Development: From Insight to Action

Overview

Philanthropic support for Organisational Development (OD) has evolved considerably in recent years, with many funders increasingly embracing a more holistic and interconnected understanding of what makes organisations strong, resilient and impactful. While such perspectives have long been central to OD practice, they are now gaining broader traction within philanthropy, shaping how support is designed and delivered.

This shift includes moving away from one-off or ad-hoc capacity-building grants towards more holistic support; embedding OD within core funding; and increasing peer-learning around how to fund and accompany OD work. At the same time, organisations face growing pressure, from funding instability and shrinking civic space to rising complexity and demand, all of which make resilient, adaptive organisational capacity more critical than ever.

This guide offers practical insights to help funders develop and implement approaches to funding OD that are coherent, values-aligned, and grounded in partner agency, trust and long-term resilience. It promotes more equitable, trust-based philanthropy approaches that centre partner agency, power-awareness, participation and locally led practice, and responds directly to the pressures reshaping civil society today, from shrinking civic space and funding crises to polarisation, wellbeing and digital transformation.

The guide draws on interviews with experienced OD practitioners to offer a practical, ten-step framework for designing an OD support programme, from developing a new approach to renewing an existing one through a stronger equity and power-sharing lens.

Key takeaways

• Support for organisational development is most effective when foundations design it intentionally and align it with their wider purpose.
• There is growing recognition that organisations pursue their missions within interconnected systems of peers, funders and enabling infrastructure, and that progress toward shared change goals depends on the health of this wider field.
• Resourcing does not need to follow a single model. OD can be embedded within unrestricted or core grants, integrated into existing budgets through contingency lines for strengthening systems and processes, or complemented by targeted assistance and dedicated funds where this is useful.
• These shifts reflect the understanding that organisational resilience depends heavily on human resilience and that care practices must be embedded at both interpersonal and structural levels.