The Impact Funders Forum (formerly the Transforming Evidence Funders Network) convenes philanthropic and public funding organizations working to close the gap between research and outcomes.
The forum’s participating funders take action on barriers to progress that no one funder can address alone. The Pew Charitable Trusts launched the forum with the William T. Grant Foundation and other philanthropic partners in 2020; it has rapidly expanded from a small learning community into an action-focused platform for more than 80 funders in 10 countries.
The forum has helped drive progress in several key areas by:
- Mobilizing leaders in funding and higher education to expand research incentive systems for greater impact—to ensure that research supports solutions needed to make progress on societal challenges.
- Increasing funding for studies to determine what works to promote evidence use in policy, practice, and community decision-making.
- Influencing grantmaking practices around the globe to support partnered and engaged research—an approach in which researchers collaborate with the policymakers, practitioners, and communities intended to use or benefit from the findings.
As the research and evidence landscape transforms, the forum routinely identifies critical and emerging issues and supports collective action by:
Aggregating learning and progress: The forum convenes innovators and problem-solvers working to maximize the societal impact of research, promoting and replicating effective strategies across sectors and issue areas.
Aligning action across silos: It breaks down barriers with targeted convenings, publications, tools, and work groups to mobilize leaders in philanthropy, government, civil society, and higher education who can promote promising approaches through their networks and activities.
Scaling resources: It supports innovative efforts by facilitating aligned and joint funding. Through the forum, funders working in separate issue areas and sectors align and sequence investments to address crosscutting challenges that can affect research impact.
Funders should contact Angela Bednarek at [email protected] to learn more about the forum’s initiatives and opportunities for co-investment.