EDGE Funders Alliance is a community of donors, foundation officers and advisors across the international philanthropic landscape sharing knowledge, tools and approaches. They share a commitment to increase resources for communities and movements creating systemic change alternatives for a transition to societies that support justice, equity and the well-being of the planet.

In 2023, the EDGE board initiated a process to better align the network’s governance to its values and principles (like participation, transparency, and accountability) and, as they couldn’t find a fitting new director, incorporating the emerging team’s shared leadership practice. The board mandated a working group consisting of active members, staff and board, to develop recommendations for a new governance structure.

As working group coordinator, I helped design and facilitate this 1-year process, including:

• A membership survey to collect insights in the needs and opportunities from across the ecosystem.
• Sense making workshops for identifying key construction sites and criteria for the new structure.
• Case workshops to build on and leverage existing practices.
  
• Design sprints with a core team and a sounding board for feedback.
• Coordination with the strategy process, so that the new structure can enable its implementation.
• A dedicated web page and newsletter updates to ensure continuity and transparency.
  
• Co-authoring the recommendations, with a final feedback loop with key stakeholders before presenting to the board.

Altogether more than 60 people participated at various stages of the process, so that the recommendations are not only rich with diversity of insights but can also be implemented with broad support and understanding. The new structure is presented at the EDGE conference in April 2025 and has a mid-term evaluation by the end of 2026.

If you have challenges with governance, structures and decision making in your organisation or network, please reach out!