*What we have learned from working with other funders in the fight against dirty money  – and why it could be important now *

For over five years, the Joffe Trust has focused on tackling the UK’s £100bn+ dirty money problem: illicit funds that enable vast corruption and harm worldwide. The work feels more important than ever now, as dirty money fuels dirty politics.

The problem is too complicated for any organisation to solve alone. We see ourselves as one cog in a bigger machine. And we work to strengthen the civil society field as a whole, rather than just making individual grants.

We want to do all we can to support progress. So our “funder+” approach combines making grants with convening key stakeholders and engaging other donors. We mainly support the impressive UK Anti-Corruption Coalition and their Illicit Finance Working Group.

Here is what we have learned so far from engaging other donors.

We will keep building on these and hope they may be useful for other funders making decisions now too.

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#1. Build bridges

As a proactive funder, we are in a unique position in the field. We can introduce new funders to issues that link to their values and strategies. We can connect them to highly effective operational partners. And we can help operational partners get to know potential funders and sometimes secure new resources.

When it works, everyone finds new ways to pursue shared goals – and the field as a whole becomes more resilient.

#2. Invest in relationships

We dedicate staff time to identifying potential allies, understanding their goals and decision-making, and developing personal relationships. It is an ongoing, all-seasons strand of our work. Over time, this has developed into a network of donor staff with connected interests which has been a great foundation for collaboration.

We found that a standard funding pitch didn’t achieve much. We also decided against a pooled fund. Instead, we work towards aligning grants with collective plans.

#3. Strategise together

Donors are independent, so they can do some wonderful things. But we will never achieve the big changes alone. We could only tackle dirty money in the UK by strategising with and listening to others, both implementing partners and other funders.

We have worked with the coalition to develop specific, fundable propositions for the field that can have national impact. And we use their collective objectives to guide our grants. This enables us to allocate resources in ways that enable co-ordinated action towards major change.

#4. Adapt to seize opportunities

We had to change what we do to realise our biggest success. A global donor showed interest in the issue. Working with the coalition, we nurtured the relationship at senior levels. First the donor made a set of grants aligned to the existing coalition’s work. Then they made a major multi-year grant to the Joffe Trust to re-grant to the field.

We had never done this before. We had to move quickly to develop a new approach with our board and staff. And that enabled transformational funding to flow quickly and efficiently to the entire field.

#5. Defend democracy

The rise of populism threatens UK democracy and, with it, progress on every front from inequality to climate change. We are urgently looking at what we can do now, as tackling dirty money and corruption is vital for the defence of democracy.

We are part of current donor conversations about stepping up responses. We see huge opportunity to work together to deliver aligned strategies that meet the scale of the challenge. This includes hard-to-fund work to limit the influence of vested interests in our politics.

It will likely depend on donors being willing to adapt further, and developing new collaborations with operational partners and each other alike. Could that help realise the funding, leadership and collective action needed to respond to the challenges of our times?

Photo by Miguel Cuenca