Funding
Despite a lab's ambitions and strategies, the way it is funded will ultimately inform its scope of work.
Funding Model
The third element in building a lab is your funding model. Whatever your ambitions or strategies, the way your lab is funded will ultimately decide what it is doing. To rephrase Peter Drucker’s famous saying: funding eats strategy for breakfast. Indeed, your funding model must be part of your strategy. You need to actively and consciously think about the way you want the lab to be funded.
Your funding model can consist of different funding sources. The key is deciding what funding mix fits best to your lab and the challenge the lab is trying to solve. Ask yourself: Does your funding support your value proposition? Below is an overview of five different funding sources that labs can have. Social innovation labs have one or more of these types of funding. There is no single good answer what is the best mix. But having the right mix is essential to your lab’s success.
Finding the Right Balance of Funding
What you need to consider:
Whatever your strategy, your funding will ultimately determine the scope of your actions. What is your desired funding?
Having the right balance of different funding sources is essential for success of the lab.
It's helpful to differentiate between funding needs for the lab and its interventions.
Activity Instructions: Establishing a funding mix
1) Balance of Funding As a team, use the worksheet to work out the following:
Describe your desired funding mix (desired % of funding for each of: endowment, partnerships, program funding, grants & subsidies and fees).
Describe your current funding mix (desired % of funding for each of: endowment, partnerships, program funding, grants & subsidies and fees).
Analyze the similarities and differences: why is this and what actions are needed?
2) Reflection As a team, reflect on what you have learned through this exercise, and how it may help you moving forward.
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