B05: Better Funder Collaboration Yields Greater Grantee Collaboration
Track
Collaborating for Greater Impact
Session Designer
Alejandra Ibañez, Woods Fund Chicago
Session Description
This session will demonstrate the benefits of deep funder collaboration and highlight how it can catalyze greater grantee collaboration. It will tell the story of the Chicagoland Workforce Funder Alliance, a funder collaborative focused on employment and the rights of low wage workers; and the Raise the Floor Alliance, a first-in-thenation collaboration of worker centers. As the funder collaborative grew from five contributors to 15 in three years, it was able to invest in the collective capacity of RFA’s members to collect data and track issues to demonstrate the need for policy change, build public support with compelling communications, and advocate for workers’ rights through litigation. Funders and grantee speakers will explain how the positive effects of this two-pronged collaboration would not have been possible if individual grantmakers in the region had continued to go it alone. No matter the model of collaboration you pursue, join this session to dive deeper into how grantmakers build stronger relationships with peer funders, help align multiple actors around shared goals and mitigate the challenges inherent in foundation support for nonprofit collaboration.
Session Designers
Alejandra L. Ibañez, Woods Fund Chicago
Speakers
![[photo]](https://8ca84662c5b8f0cff50d-4baaaf97d63fd7b01243e1b1c57f0cc1.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/1079/profile_45e1b09f82459d22f9edec1a90d888ec.png "Alejandra Ibañez, Woods Fund Chicago")
Alejandra Ibañez, Woods Fund Chicago
Biography
Alejandra L. Ibañez serves as the Lead Program Officer at the Woods Fund Chicago. Alejandra brings nearly two decades of experience as a community organizer, convener and leader in Chicago’s nonprofit, philanthropic and public sector. Before entering the philanthropic sector, Alejandra served as Executive Director of Pilsen Alliance, a grassroots community organization committed to social justice and equity on issues of public education, transportation and affordable housing in Chicago’s Lower West Side. Alejandra served as Chief of Staff to Illinois’ first Latina state representative and worked to establish the first state commission on Day and Temporary Laborer rights.
![[photo]](https://8ca84662c5b8f0cff50d-4baaaf97d63fd7b01243e1b1c57f0cc1.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/1078/profile_eb962a799603940dc8532906e40ec550.png "Sophia Zaman, Raise the Floor Alliance")
Sophia Zaman, Raise the Floor Alliance
Biography
Sophia Zaman is Executive Director of Raise the Floor, an alliance of eight Chicago-area worker centers which provides research, communications, and legal support to advance justice for low-wage workers. Sophia brings five years of experience in organizing for racial justice, student-labor solidarity, gender & sexuality justice, and electoral engagement. Previously, she was elected President of the U.S. Student Association, where she represented two million college students at the White House, Department of Education, and Congress for free and universal higher education. She is the proud daughter of her Bangladeshi mother, who taught her to always seek justice and live purposefully.
![[photo]](https://8ca84662c5b8f0cff50d-4baaaf97d63fd7b01243e1b1c57f0cc1.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/1103/profile_1f40c0ebffb3732a55ed508e8af480ef.png "Matthew Bruce, Chicagoland Workforce Funder Alliance")
Matthew Bruce, Chicagoland Workforce Funder Alliance
Biography
Matthew Bruce is the first Executive Director of the Chicagoland Workforce Funder Alliance, a workforce development funder collaborative engaging employers and other workforce stakeholders to increase employment and earnings for underprepared workers in the Chicago region. Previous to joining the Alliance, Matt was Manager of Regional Sector Initiatives for the Boston Office of Jobs and Community Services, where he started sector workforce initiatives such as Green Jobs Boston and the Skilled Careers In Life Sciences initiative. Matt has a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Chicago, and lives with his wife and 2 children in Oak Park, Illinois.