Our Strategy

Community, Collaboration, Catalyse Change

These principles define the International Education Funders Group, of which we are proud to be members. We need to live and drive these principles across the global education community.

We will not achieve the dramatic and urgent change that we all want to see in education outcomes unless we work together, listen to and learn from each other, and see the bigger picture of our collective endeavour.

We all want to make education systems better, to give children around the world better chances and better choices. We will never achieve perfect ‘coherence’ or singular purpose in an education system, but we can do better than the current cacophony of well-intended support.

Philanthropy can be a disruptor to the structures and silos of the global education community, with different ideas, perspectives and networks. Philanthropy can build bridges; can support innovation; can fund and do things that or fund things others can’t. But it also can be fragmented, duplicative, and untransparent. We want to bring out the best in philanthropy and realise our community’s potential to impact education outcomes.

Philanthropy is an important actor. Foundations are growing in number, stature and influence, and there is a larger and changing individual-giving landscape beyond these. In short, there is potential to catalyse change within and through philanthropy.

IEFG has supported over 100 philanthropic organisations for the past twelve years, enabling and shaping the education philanthropy ecosystem.

We see that education philanthropy is at an inflexion point, ready to forge ahead – in support of government priorities and locally-led efforts, in joining forces to advocate for global and national change, and in being louder, more open and committed to harnessing the diversity of philanthropy.

In 2022, 59 philanthropic organisations signed a joint statement facilitated by IEFG and OECD netFWD, committed to transforming education systems through listening and learning from education stakeholders, consolidating and expanding the education evidence base, improving the efficiency and alignment of our support, and building sound partnerships within and beyond the education philanthropy community.

The role of a network like IEFG is to support our members. The nuts and bolts behind this strategy are not radically different to the last, but the education philanthropy community is in a bold and ambitious place in 2023, and we stand ready to enable this.

This Strategy was set in 2023 after a year of deep conversations with our members and a comprehensive review of wider philanthropy trends and lessons to be drawn from other networks. We set no end date here but commit to reviewing the same landscape again within a five-year time horizon to make sure IEFG is still needed, valued and impactful.

The IEFG Steering Committee, June 2023

Our Mission

Our Collective Mission is to improve education. Education systems around the world are failing children. We are committed to achieving the fourth Sustainable Development Goal, and in the power of education to drive progress towards the other SDGs. We, members of IEFG, believe that philanthropy must do more and better. We, members of IEFG, thoughtfully employ philanthropy to foster change. We prioritise local voices, equitable access, and innovation, working collaboratively to transform education and empower communities for a sustainable, inclusive future that respects diverse perspectives and contexts.

Our Objectives

IEFG has three objectives, to enable us as members to:

  1. Build purposeful coalitions to achieve amplified impact together.
  2. Learn from each other, across our diverse and inclusive community.
  3. Inform our grant-making by staying up to date with the latest evidence, debates and trends in education and philanthropy.

How do we know it's working?

We, members of IEFG, recognise that the more we put into the network, the more we get out of it; We support the core team to learn from members' feedback on activities and to act not only on this but on their own observations of member engagement; We value proxies of quality over quantity engagement: i.e., signs that our philanthropy has become more strategic, effective, efficient and impactful through IEFG's work rather than counting IEFG income or event attendance. We will track the dynamics of the IEFG system over time, learning from the diversity and strength of ties across the network.

What IEFG does not do

  1. Provide consultancy or paid advisory services
  2. Match grantees to funders
  3. Advocate for a single vision of education
  4. Focus on any on topic within education, or one geography
  5. Duplicate activities with other networks

Membership

Our network welcomes members who….

  1. Have a commitment to improving educational outcomes, particularly in low- and middle-income countries
  2. Grant-make
  3. Receive the majority of their funding from private sources (e.g., endowments, profits, and founding HNW gifts)

Who We Are

The IEFG is the largest global network of philanthropic actors funding education. We are all passionately engaged in local, national and international grant-making within diverse organisations, with differing priorities and individual strategies, but a shared belief in the power of education and a shared drive to urgently improve the
performance of education systems around the world.

Our objectives will be achieved through various activities, which evolve year-on-year.

Build purposeful coalitions

IEFG will...

  • Support us to engage strategically as a constituency in the global education architecture and in partnership to national education systems
  • Build bridges of wider understanding and awareness of education philanthropy among global education actors
  • Influence the wider education field to change practice, in part through recognising the diverse and disruptive contributions of philanthropy
Learn from each other

IEFG will...

  • Organise IEFG Together: a flagship annual in-person opportunity for us to convene as a community, to learn, share and network
  • Provide further in-person opportunities for us to exchange knowledge, bring diverse perspectives to, and build strong ties across our peer group
  • Facilitate virtual opportunities for us to share practical knowledge and to explore potential for collaborative philanthropy
Inform our grant-making

IEFG will...

  • Curate knowledge, debates and trends in global education and philanthropy through a monthly digest and on our online platform
  • Enable us to draw down on the hivemind of our community through an online platform and interactive dashboard
Our People