Request for Proposals:

Funding for Strategic Collaboration in the Impact Investing Sector

Supporting nonprofit field-building organizations in the impact investing and inclusive capitalism ecosystems

Overview

The Challenge

The impact investing movement is on an encouraging trajectory and has achieved impressive scale in recent years. Much of this growth can be credited to an expansion of dynamic and courageous field-building organizations. However, the collective need for philanthropy of these important organizations currently exceeds available funding. This dynamic creates challenges, including that:

With fixed budgets and competing priorities, grant dollars are spread too thin to build or sustain adequate organizational capacity in the field, leading to high levels of financial stress. This, in turn, forces organizational leadership to focus on short-term fundraising at the expense of long-term strategy and vision.
Fragmentation makes it harder to coordinate leadership during a critical moment for the fields of impact investing and inclusive capitalism. This fragmentation can stall strategy and risks creating competition where coordination would be more effective. This makes it harder to galvanize an affirmative, unified vision for the movementʼs future.

This RFP

To support a more sustainable and effective ecosystem for the impact sector, this RFP seeks to support strategic consolidation among nonprofit field-building organizations in the impact investing and inclusive capitalism ecosystems. We hope to help remove some of the barriers to mergers, acquisitions, and other forms of deep collaboration by providing financial support for integration costs.

The Collaboration Fund is a pooled grant fund that will provide financial support to relevant nonprofit organizations exploring and executing strategic mergers and collaborations. Possible uses of proceeds include:

Feasibility studies and due diligence: Helping organizations assess alignment and potential synergies before committing to a merger.
Legal and consulting costs: Covering essential professional services to navigate the complexities of structuring a successful merger.
Integration planning and implementation support: Ensuring smooth operational, financial, technological, and cultural transitions post-merger.
Staff transition and change management: Providing resources to support leadership transitions and mitigate disruption for employees and stakeholders.
Reputation-enhancing strategic communication: Celebrating strategic mergers and the leaders willing and able to participate in them to provide reputational cover to leaders willing to put the mission above their job security.

Who Qualifies?

The Collaboration Fund is targeting nonprofit field-building organizations in the impact investing or inclusive capitalism space, or immediately related fields, with a mission to create collective value and benefits for the field that everyone can use. This is a broad category, and can include organizations that:

Create shared infrastructure, such as measurement standards, common language, or open-source frameworks.
Convene or bring together people and organizations toward common goals and objectives.
Produce publicly available resources, such as critical research that helps catalyze growth and positive outcomes in impact investing.
Build capacity through training, thought leadership, and education.
Advocate for conditions that enable market growth and positive outcomes.
Create other outcomes intended to benefit the field and create collective value.

For the purposes of this RFP, strategic collaboration includes full legal mergers, acquisitions, shared service integrations, programmatic consolidation, and other durable structural combinations that materially reduce overlap and increase field-level effectiveness.

Watch the Live Informational Session About the Collaboration Fund RFP

At our informational session, Katie Macc, CEO of the Sorenson Impact Institute, and Margot Brandenburg, Senior Program Officer at the Ford Foundation, provided an overview of the Collaboration Fund RFP, discussing its goals, qualifications, and potential uses of proceeds, and answered many audience questions.

Watch Now

“The explosive growth of these organizations is an overall positive sign for our field. As the ecosystem expands, our goal is to increase collaboration, make best use of available resources, and ultimately accelerate our collective impact.”

Katie Macc
CEO, Sorenson Impact Institute

How to Apply

Timeline

The RFP will go live on Thursday, March 12, 2026, and responses will follow a two-step process: a letter of intent (LOI) followed by a full proposal for those organizations invited to the second step. LOIs will be due on Thursday, June 11, 2026. Organizations invited to submit a full proposal will be notified by email within 30 days of the LOI due date. Full proposals will be due on Friday, August 22, 2026, with funds distributed in one lump sum within 30 days of notification.

Grant Size

There is no specific grant range required, though we anticipate most grants will be between $100,000 and $400,000.

Critera & Evaluation

Grant proposals will be evaluated based on the following core criteria. Priority will be given to proposals that demonstrate both organizational readiness and a credible path to durable field-level benefit.

Strategic Relevance: Proposals must clearly articulate how the proposed merger or collaboration reduces duplication, fragmentation, or inefficiency within the impact investing ecosystem. Reviewers will assess whether the consolidation meaningfully strengthens shared infrastructure, leadership coordination, or market-building capacity beyond what the organizations could achieve independently.
Feasibility and Execution Readiness: Proposals must demonstrate a clear plan for execution. Reviewers will assess the level of internal alignment among executive leadership and boards, the clarity of the proposed merger structure, the identification of key legal, financial, and operational risks, and timeline. Proposals that demonstrate prior board engagement and explicit leadership support will be prioritized.
Field-Level Impact and Durability: Proposals must demonstrate how the merger or collaboration will create lasting value for the impact investing field. Reviewers will assess whether the proposed consolidation leads to stronger long-term sustainability, improved coordination, clearer market signals, or enhanced accessibility of shared resources. Proposals can also illustrate what the merger or collaboration will enable the relevant organizations to do together or as a new entity that they otherwise could not do alone.

Grant funds awarded may be used for costs directly associated with consolidation efforts, including feasibility studies, due diligence, legal and consulting fees, merger structuring, integration planning, staff transition support, and change management activities. Costs not directly tied to consolidation or integration will not be supported.

Reporting

Awards will be distributed as a lump sum grant upon selection. Grantees will be required to submit outcomes reporting and a summary of grant expenditures to the funding committee.

Proposals

The grant process will be in two stages, beginning with an LOI, followed by review, and a more comprehensive assessment for those organizations approved for advancement. Initial proposals must include an LOI (Word or PDF, no more than 1500 words, please) with the following:

A narrative statement of current organizational status.
A narrative plan of the merger or type anticipated and how the merger will benefit the organization and the field.
Rough estimate of budget and how funds will be spent.
Organizational information, not limited to:
- Name of organization
- Organization type
- Mission statement
- Annual revenue
- Status update on any merger/acquisition discussions held
- Confirmation of 501(c)(3) status or international nonprofit equivalency
- Location and locations served
- Leadership (CEO, Board members) and relevant contact information

To submit, please attach a your letter of intent as a PDF or Word document in an email to info@sorensoninstitute.com or click the button below.

Submit a Letter of Intent