Why Do Funders Work with Intermediaries?

Grantmakers often rely on intermediary organizations when we need help making grants -- whether on issues that are new or unfamiliar, in communities where we lack meaningful connections or to fund charitable groups that are challenging for us to support directly. Intermediaries receive funding to regrant and, often, to provide a host of services to nonprofits, communities and the grantmakers themselves. To increase the odds that our funding of intermediary organizations will be consistently productive, grantmakers must craft and sustain the right relationships with the intermediaries with whom we work. We must also draw on recommendations from intermediaries so that they can apply their best efforts on our behalf