Beyond Funding Priorities – Why a Foundation’s Origin Story Matters
By Lucy Njue
When Gratitude Becomes Strategy
One of the first things fundraisers do when researching a donor is review what they fund – education, health, livelihoods, climate, gender, youth. It’s an important starting point, but it rarely tells the whole story.
But one of the most overlooked questions in donor research is this: Why was this foundation created in the first place?
Its founding story often reveals the values, relationships and long-term purpose that continue to shape funding decisions long after the strategy documents have changed.
That was my biggest takeaway as I explored the Co-operative Bank Foundation.
Looking Beyond the Portfolio
To test that idea, I looked beyond the foundation’s published funding priorities and asked what had shaped its creation. At first glance, the foundation’s investments appear broad.
There are scholarships for bright but disadvantaged students, youth employability programmes through Jijali, support for motorcycle riders through Jenga Rider, agricultural initiatives that strengthen farmer groups, health programmes and environmental initiatives.
Viewed individually, these look like separate interventions addressing different social challenges. Viewed together, however, they tell a much more coherent story.
The foundation was established to honour the cooperative movement that supported Co-operative Bank through some of its most challenging years. That history continues to shape where and how the foundation invests. Across its portfolio, the common thread is not a single thematic area. It is a commitment to strengthening the communities and cooperative structures that have long been central to the Bank’s identity.
One way of understanding the portfolio is as a continuum of community development.
It often begins with strengthening livelihoods. Farmers become more productive and resilient through cooperative agriculture. Families are then better able to educate their children, while scholarships ensure that talented young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are not left behind. As these young people transition into adulthood, programmes such as Jijali equip them with the skills, confidence and opportunities to secure meaningful employment or start businesses. Entrepreneurs and motorcycle riders build sustainable livelihoods through initiatives such as Jenga Rider, while investments in health and the environment create stable, resilient communities in which people and businesses can thrive.
Seen through this lens, the foundation is not funding isolated projects. It is investing across a continuum, from stronger households to educated young people to decent livelihoods to resilient communities.
At every stage, the underlying objective is the same: strengthening the people, communities and cooperative ecosystems that have always been central to the Co-operative movement and to the Bank’s identity.
Once viewed this way, the portfolio becomes more than a collection of separate programmes. It reflects a long-term investment in opportunity, resilience and shared prosperity.
The Fundraising Lesson
Too often, we approach donor research as an exercise in matching projects to funding priorities.
“We work in education.” “They fund education.” “We should apply.”
But strategic fundraising asks a different question:
What purpose was this foundation created to serve, and how does our work help advance that purpose?
Those are two very different conversations. Understanding a donor’s origin helps explain why certain partnerships emerge, why some programmes receive sustained investment and why particular delivery models are consistently preferred.
In the case of Co-operative Bank Foundation, the emphasis on working through cooperative structures, trusted institutions and long-term partnerships reflects a philosophy of strengthening communities from within rather than funding isolated projects.
That insight is unlikely to appear on a funding priorities page, yet it can fundamentally change how an organisation positions itself.
What This Means for Organisations
For organisations interested in working with Co-operative Bank Foundation, the question extends beyond programme alignment.
The stronger proposition is to demonstrate how your work contributes to the long-term wellbeing of the communities the foundation is already investing in. That could mean bringing technical expertise, innovative approaches or implementation capacity that complements existing programmes. More importantly, it means showing how your organisation helps strengthen communities rather than deliver projects.
The most compelling partnerships are likely to be those that reinforce the foundation’s long-term commitment to building opportunity, resilience and shared prosperity.
My Perspective
Researching donors is about more than identifying what they fund. It’s about understanding the story behind their giving.
Funding priorities can change over time. Strategic plans evolve. Programmes are redesigned. But the reason a foundation was created often remains remarkably consistent.
For me, that’s one of the most valuable lessons from Co-operative Bank Foundation. Its portfolio isn’t simply a collection of education, livelihoods and community programmes. It is a reflection of the purpose that inspired the foundation’s creation.
As fundraisers, we often spend hours studying eligibility criteria, funding windows and thematic priorities. Perhaps we should spend a little more time asking a different question:
Why does this foundation exist at all?
The answer may tell us far more about how to build a meaningful partnership than any list of funding priorities ever could.
(Lucy Njue is a Kenyan fundraising and sustainability strategist, and Founder and Executive Director of Realtime Insights)
