Funders passionate about change in their communities often realize that engaging others—particularly some “unusual” suspects—can be a next step to achieving greater impact. 

Unusual suspects include the people, organizations, networks, and systems not aligned with your goals today, but able to multiply your impact if an alignment or partnership were created.

Just what might it look like to engage unusual suspects?

• Talking with community leaders or elected officials about the impact of your work
• Engaging field experts on a grantmaking committee
• Convening grantees to learn about challenges and potential solutions
• Hosting a chat room to discuss issues and identify ways to frame it
• Commissioning research and disseminating the findings
• Funding a publication to share good practices in one field with another
• Using film as a call to action for diverse stakeholders

And what might it take to engage others in this way? Most funders acknowledge that success in engaging others—particularly unusual suspects—takes determination, practical skills, and an open, adaptive mindset. A group of Exponent Philanthropy members known as the Impact Working Group puts it this way:

Successful engagement takes guts and grit. There are reasons funders don’t often engage the unusual suspects. It will call on you to deliberately and persistently venture beyond your comfort zone. It might mean reaching out to people over and over who don’t know you—and therefore don’t return your calls. It might mean spending more time out of the office than you’re used to, in conversations with potential partners that may lead to detours or dead ends. It might mean taking a year or two to find the right partnerships, not “producing” much early on. And it might mean shifting your strategy midstream for the sake of a larger goal.

Successful engagement starts with conversation. People who effectively engage the unusual suspects often approach it as an evolving conversation.

“If you want to engage people on an issue,” says consultant Mark Sedway, “start by asking them what they think about it. It’s a simple but effective process. Segment the groups of people you want to reach. Then name names—a list of, say, the 50 people you really want to engage. Then interview them. What do they think about an issue? How could you work together?”

Successful engagement takes adaptation. The best chess players modify their provisional plans in response to the other player. Likewise, effective engagement requires funders to make many small moves along the way, shifting and adapting as potential partners establish their positions. It may also call on funders to give up some of their pieces (i.e., their control) to achieve a greater goal. “In my experience,” says Suzanne Hammer of The Pellish Foundation, “funders who succeed in engagement aren’t afraid of hearing no. They don’t take it personally and understand that being flexible and creative is the path to success.”

Read the full article in Essentials, our quarterly publication, for a checklist of steps to engage unusual suspects in your work.

Our thanks to members of Exponent Philanthropy’s Impact Working Group and consultant Mark Sedway.

Related resources 

Exponent Philanthropy’s resources on impact

Convening to Build Capacity, part 2 of a 2-part blog series on convening