Your relationship with CARE goes back to 2004. When did the partnership feel like it really clicked?
Around 2010, I fully realized two things: that this was a mutual partnership and that CARE was the first grantee that understood the power of systems thinking. Having Peter Lochery as a mentor was so beneficial. His patient tutoring brought me up to speed on the WASH sector quickly, exposing me to the opportunities CARE was pursuing. I wanted to be a catalytic capacity building funder, so we developed a vision for patient systems building and were off to the races!
Tell us about the “Influence at Scale” initiative between Osprey and CARE.
It was a major grant intended to “support scaled-up service delivery through advocacy, knowledge generation, and staff capacity building.”
This was our first opportunity to implement what we had been learning about the need for robust systems, particularly around local empowerment, governmental involvement, and advocacy.
Why does investing in capacity matter to a foundation like Osprey?
Small philanthropic players can fill funding gaps that other project-based funders cannot or will not fill. Those are the building blocks that long-term, scalable advances are built on.
What role do private donors play right now?
We can lead the way. We can learn from not only the errors of the past year but from the successes of the last decade. We have a critical risk-taking role to play — first ones in the water, prove it out, and pass it to those with more zeros who are more risk averse! Resource diversification is a philosophy that has long defined Osprey’s partnership with CARE and one that feels especially relevant today.