New “Backbone and Relations” Program

by Daniela Metzger

To enjoy long-term success, NGOs and social enterprises need stable backbone structures. The Schöpflin Foundation wants to strengthen, network and set up initiatives and organizations that take a cross-thematic approach and advocate for the interests of civil society organizations.  It would then like to strengthen these organizations structurally.

As key players in civil society, social enterprises and NGOs have a certain responsibility for developing innovative solutions to societal and social challenges.  We are convinced that we can only meet the major challenges of our time if - instead of focusing on individual organizations - we work together and collaboratively on solutions.  But organizations in the nonprofit sector usually lack the resources to invest in collaborations or in organized, strong information and outreach work.  As a foundation, we believe we can offer a real opportunity by creating spaces for the exchange of ideas, for networking, and for creative thinking for organizations and initiatives committed to the common good.

Through our new "Backbone & Relations" program, the Schöpflin Foundation will support so-called backbone organizations.  The program’s work focuses on two specific areas:

Firstly, it will focus on network organizations that provide targeted education and public relations work on behalf of civil society players.  The aim is to pool resources in order to strengthen public awareness of and give greater weight to the work of social enterprises and NGOs – including as part of the political debate.  We are looking for initiatives that focus on good relations work within and between civil society players.  We are also looking for initiatives that strengthen cohesion, both within and between sectors as well as across society as a whole.  We are convinced that good relations and good quality human interaction are key building blocks for the stable foundation of an active civil society.

Secondly, we want to build resilient structures – both within organizations, but also among the people who, through their commitment, are the very essence of what make organizations what they are.  We are looking for and will support initiatives that specifically provide help to and support for this sector, supporting them in building sustainable organizational structures.  This could be with their financial, personnel or strategic work.   It is only by having stable and resilient internal structures that an organization’s external activities can be fully effective.  Here, we will pay particular attention to the issue of wellbeing.

Most people who actively work to bring about social change and build a healthy and just society usually have a high degree of intrinsic motivation – which can lead to them going far beyond their own limits to achieve these goals.  Work that focuses on social problems is often associated with financial insecurity and can be highly stressful; often it does not allow those working in the sector time to stop and think or to take care of themselves.  The result can be burnout, health problems and relationship breakdowns.  We believe in the positive energy that inner well-being within individuals can create – and that this energy can be transmitted to organizations or even to an entire sector, thereby fostering effective social change.

Our grantee, betterplace lab, for example, has a program called well:being, which provides information and help on how people working for the common good can bolster their inner well-being and find greater strength for their work-lives too.  They also run another program called co:lab which looks at ways of achieving successful collaboration.  For more information, visit www.betterplace-lab.org

We ourselves have experienced just how important and helpful the issue of "good relations" can be for the development of an organization.  In 2020, we began our own organizational development process with the Schöpflin team.  One of the main aims was to move away from a silo mentality in order to be able to carry out our support and networking work on a cross-topic and cross-sectorial basis.  We are convinced that strategic cross-fertilization between topics will create more synergies and ultimately give all our projects greater impact.  But it was clear to us that this would require a rethink in the way we work together, that we would have to learn how to think and ultimately work much more closely as a true team.  The key for us lies in the relations within, as well as between organizations as a basis for co-creative work and strong collaborations.

We have the good fortune not to be starting from scratch with our new "Backbone & Good Relations" program.  The idea - as well as the program itself - like so much in the Schöpflin Foundation, emerged organically.  For a while now - several years, in some cases - we have had strong partners at our side.  Project Together, Phineo, SEND e.V., the Betterplace Lab, More in Common and Wider Sense all work to strengthen networks and relationships in the sector and support the development of resilient structures.  We would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their active involvement in the strategic development of our new “Backbone & Relations” program.