Development Donors:who they are, what they want and

how to deal with them

IRI Seminar, May 2003

Development Donors

Who They Are...

Types and Numbers

• Three main types of donors, providing grants for international research and development:– Bilateral– Multi-lateral– Foundations

• Approximately 50 major donors; perhaps 25-30 interested in IRI-type work

Where do donors get their funds?

• Bilateral (public)– all funds from treasury of one country

• Multilateral (public)– funds from treasuries of many members

• Foundation (private)– funds from endowments formed by companies or

rich individuals

Potential IRI Donors

• Bilateral – USAID, DfID, SIDA, CIDA, Norad, AusAID

• Multilateral – IFAD, AfDB, ADB, IADB, EU

• Foundations– Rockefeller, Packard, Toyota, Gates

Where are they? (a) Multi-lateral HQs

• AfDB moving from Abidjan to Tunis

• ADB in Manila

• IADB, WB in Washington

• IFAD in Rome

• EU in Brussels

Where are they?(b) bilateral donors

• Headquarters are in national capitals

• Field offices in the capitals of host countries

• Large bilaterals often have regional offices– e.g. Nairobi, Accra, Bangkok, Delhi, Santiago

• Multi-laterals and large foundations also have field and regional offices

What sort of people?

• Public donor personnel are civil servants -- mostly educated generalists, good at pushing paper

• Large agencies employ a few scientists and/or contract with scientists to review proposals

• Donor personnel are outward looking -- interested in other countries, other cultures, seeing development happen

More on people...

• Donor people don’t think of themselves as funding sources, but as development workers.

• Donors like to be considered partners in development projects -- with valid ideas and experience.

• Donors want to see more than dollar signs in your eyes!

Donors aren’t scientists!

• Timing: Donors think in 2 - 4 year projects

(you will have to phase longer projects)

• Output: Donors want impact, not results

(you will have to think beyond results)

• Politics: Donor work is very political

(you will have to keep up with the news)

Development Donors

What They Want...

Donor Goals

• To differing extents, all dev. donors want:– poverty alleviation– protection of the environment– food security– improved quality of and access to: education, health,

information, and communications– bio-diversity

• For specific donor goals, see web sites, annual reports

Donor interests depend on politics, national culture, history

• Scandinavians like projects on environment, gender, equity.

• US likes projects involving private sector.

• French usually strong in francophone ex-colonies; UK in anglophone ex-colonies.

• Swiss like mountain countries, like Nepal

• Dutch like drainage and water projects

Donors want impact

• Impact = measurable improvements in currently bad conditions, such as:

• increased incomes for poor families

• increased nutrition of infants and mothers

• universal access to clean drinking water

• reversal of soil degradation and erosion

• decreased incidence of infectious diseases

Donors like topics that…

• are sufficiently important to be worth doing

• are internally approved (i.e. fit within your strategic plan)

• are seen as a priority by your beneficiaries

• are “managable” (i.e. there’s a good chance you’ll achieve your objectives in the project life, with the project budget)...

They also like projects that...

• have the right balance of risks and returns

• attract strong research partners that have a comparative advantage to carry out the project

• fit with the donor’s interests and grant portfolio

• are within the donor’s budget

An Important Topic...

• An important topic for a donor is one which can make a real difference in the well-being of disadvantaged people in the countries where they work.

• The more difference, and the more people helped, the better. (Remember, some donors take the bottom line and divide by the number of beneficiaries!)

Which will they choose?

• Projects can be strategic (done in a lab or office, opening up scientific doors) or applied (implemented in the real world, applying strategic results for beneficiaries)

• Which do you think a development donor would more likely want to support and why?

Answer...

• Because donors are interest in development impact, they are likely to prefer applied research topics -- closer to the beneficiaries.

• But, donors do recognize the need for strategic research to yield results that can be applied in the real world.

So...

• If you select a strategic research topic for external donor funding, you need to show, in detail, how and when the results of your work will ultimately make people better off. [Demonstrate impact.]

Large or small?

• Project size can be defined by the budget size.

• Large and small are relative to the type of project. In ag research, roughly:small = under $150,000/3years

medium = $150,000 - $350,000/3 years

large = over $350,000/3 years

Answer...

• Donors like to make as many grants as possible to spread risks, increase linkages, get more impact. (Favors small topics)

• But, grants mean lots of paperwork, meetings, decisions -- same effort for small or large projects.

• So, it depends -- donors will not necessarily choose one or the other!

Simple or Complex?

• 1- 2 objectives

• handful of sites

• limited number of partners

• Several objectives

• several sites in many countries

• several partner groups

Which will donors like?

• A simple project is more likely to succeed:– fewer things can go wrong– easier to manage– easier to achieve outputs

• But donors like to maximize participation -- like many partners

• So donors may support either type of topic!

Imagine you are a donor, and must choose among...

• A project to find a vaccine for AIDS

• A project to build 100 schools in rural Cameroon

• A project to grow substitute crops for opium in the Golden Triangle

• A project to train scientists in how to write convincing proposals

Taking into account...

• Importance of the topic to you as donor

• Priority to beneficiaries

• Manageability

• Risks and returns

• Any other considerations…

Which do you choose? Why?

Dealing with Donors...

Donor Intelligence ...

• Needs gathering by as many spies as possible• Needs sharing with everyone with a need to

know• Must constantly be updated• Must be managed (RMO)• Involves managers and scientists, so become

a 007 in your field

There is no substitute for personal interaction…

• You can learn from colleagues

• Or from the web, donor profiles, annual reports, etc.

• But personal interaction is still the best way of arousing donor interest.

This means visiting donors yourself...

• When traveling to conferences, on home leave, to visit projects…

• Take an extra day or two to visit donor offices for a get-to-know-each-other visit.

• You will need to set this up in advance, take support materials, and follow up afterwards.

• DON’T ASK FOR MONEY ON THE FIRST VISIT

How to have a good first visit to a donor

• Remember you are there for information, not money

• Don’t take along draft concept notes

• Do listen more than talk

• Do treat the donor as an intelligent layperson, and a potential partner

• And read Marian’s handout first!

If you have some donor interest, from a previous visit, or in

response to an RFP…

• Design a project attractive to that donor

• Write it up as a concept note

• Get it approved internally

• Get partners on board

• Send it to a donor

Only write a full proposal

• If a donor is attracted by your concept note and asks for more details, or

• If you are responding to a competitive grants program

• A full proposal takes far more time, money and effort for you to write, and the donor to read.

If the donor likes your proposal...

• You will go into negotiations -- you need to prepare in advance

• Be ready to cut your project to suit your donors needs

• If the donor can give less than you asked for, you will need to cut your objectives

• Nothing is so frustrating than an under-funded project!

If you get a grant agreement…

Maintain good donor relations by:

– reporting regularly and honestly

– telling bad news as well as good

– encouraging donor visits to project

– sounding out possible follow-on grant well in advance

Future training -- how to:

• Design a fundable project

• Prepare a good concept note

• Write a convincing proposal

• Review and improve CNs and proposals

• Negotiate with donors

• Understand how donors review proposals, what turns them on and turns them off!