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More Than a Grant: Strengthening Leadership to Multiply Impact

Reos Partners
June, 2025

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The Case for Leadership in Complexity

Foundations often measure their impact by the programs they fund, the partnerships they form, and the policies they influence. These outcomes matter deeply. But many grantmakers are asking a deeper question:

“How can our support help grantees lead effectively in complexity and extend the impact of our investment beyond the grant itself?"

As strategic facilitators and systems practitioners, Reos Partners accompanies funders and their grantees to strengthen the leadership and collaborative capacity needed to address today’s complex, interdependent challenges.

This article explores how systems leadership can complement traditional grantmaking and what it can unlock for grantees, funders, and the communities they serve.

Expanding Support: From Funding Projects to Building Capacity

Grantees today operate in increasingly dynamic and rapidly changing systems. Whether working in public health, climate adaptation, or community development, their challenges span sectors, geographies, and timelines. Solving them requires more than strong project design; it requires adaptive thinking, collaboration, and strategic navigation.

Systems leadership offers a way to meet this need. It’s a practical and applied approach to leading change in complex environments. It enables individuals to:

See the bigger picture and understand systemic patterns
Work collaboratively across diverse perspectives
Foster innovation while navigating uncertainty
Address root causes, instead of symptoms

These are capabilities that can be learned, and when applied within active initiatives, they amplify the impact of philanthropic investment.

74% of foundations say the biggest barrier to effective partnerships is a lack of systems mindset and awareness.
— Building Foundations for Collaborative Transformation, The Partnering Initiative, WINGS, and Philea, 2025, p. 7

Leadership Is Leverage: A Strategic Pathway to Stronger Impact

For grantmakers seeking to make a meaningful impact on complex issues, funding strong programs is only part of the equation. Equally critical is ensuring the people behind those efforts are equipped to lead in dynamic, uncertain environments. Leadership development may not appear as a traditional line item in every portfolio, but it’s increasingly recognised as a strategic lever for systems change.

“Systems change isn’t for the faint-hearted... It’s messy, it’s erratic, and you’re never really sure what’s just around the corner.”
— Ben Cairns, Institute for Voluntary Action Research (IVAR), Institute for Voluntary Action Research (IVAR), quoted in Building Foundations for Collaborative Transformation, The Partnering Initiative, WINGS, and Philea, 2025, p. 12.

When grantees can see systems clearly, work across divides, and act with intention, they’re better positioned to advance breakthrough solutions. And when funders make space for this kind of growth, they often see their investments go further, in both reach and resilience.

Here’s what this unlocks:

For grantees: Confidence and clarity in how they lead and collaborate across systems
For funders: Stronger, more adaptive partners capable of sustaining and scaling impact
For communities: Interventions that engage root causes and create lasting change

67% of foundations identified soft skills like trust-building and navigating complexity as top professional development needs.
— Building Foundations for Collaborative Transformation, The Partnering Initiative, WINGS, and Philea, 2025, p. 8.

Far from being ancillary, systems leadership capacity is a foundational element of effective systems change. And for funders serious about impact, it’s a powerful complement to traditional grantmaking—one that multiplies the value of every dollar invested.

What This Looks Like in Practice

One proven approach is a cohort-based learning experience anchored in grantees’ current initiatives. Participants engage in interactive workshops, peer learning, coaching, and hands-on application of tools and frameworks tailored to their contexts. Rather than pulling grantees away from their work, these programmes strengthen it, making space for reflection, strategy, and connection with peers facing similar challenges.

As one Systems Leadership programme participant noted:

“In my organisation, we talk about partnerships and projects. I now see that it’s relationship before partnership—and process after projects.”

These experiences are particularly valuable given that only 20% of foundations report having adequate staff training for collaborative work, and just 16% have internal partnering guidance in place. Systems leadership programs bridge this gap by offering structured, applied support for navigating complexity, a skill that few foundations are institutionally prepared to deliver themselves. (TPI, WINGS, Philea, 2025, p. 8, 28).

The capabilities needed to support transformational partnerships, like shared leadership, collaboration across divides, and strategic adaptability, are not yet embedded in most philanthropic organisations. A sector-wide framework outlines five core capacities foundations must build to become “fit for partnering”, and they align with what Reos helps grantees strengthen:

Figure: Fit for Partnering Framework

Building Foundations for Collaborative Transformation (TPI, WINGS & Philea, 2025), p. 28.

The Opportunity for Philanthropy

As funders consider how to align their strategies with deeper impact, leadership development offers a high-leverage, mission-aligned opportunity. When grantees are equipped to lead change from within complex systems, funders move from transactional support to catalytic partnership. The results aren’t only measured in program outcomes, they’re reflected in the increased capacity and confidence of those carrying the work forward. As the Philanthropy Transformation Initiative puts it, “Philanthropy must move from being achievers to enablers” (PTI, 2025)—a shift that underscores the importance of building leadership capacity across the field.

In the words of a Systems Leadership programme participant:

“I feel more empowered—not just in my role, but as a person working to shape what’s next for my community.”

While many funders are eager to support transformational work, the reality is that structural barriers often prevent them—and their grantees—from achieving full impact. Challenges such as short-term funding cycles, rigid accountability models, and internal capability gaps continue to hold back collaborative progress.

A recent global needs assessment of over 50 foundations paints a clear picture of what’s getting in the way, and why capacity-building support is more essential than ever:

Figure: Common Barriers to Transformational Partnerships

Building Foundations for Collaborative Transformation (TPI, WINGS & Philea, 2025), p. 7.

Conclusion: Multiplying the Value of Every Dollar

The scale and complexity of today’s challenges demand more than well-funded projects. They call for leaders who can work across boundaries, navigate uncertainty, and drive systemic change.

Yet even with the will to act, many foundations struggle to overcome inertia, whether due to internal constraints, risk aversion, or the sheer complexity of systems change. Systems leadership offers the activation energy foundations need to move from good intentions to breakthrough results.

Figure: Activation Energy for Systems Change

Building Foundations for Collaborative Transformation (TPI, WINGS & Philea, 2025), p. 11.

Let’s Explore What This Could Look Like for You

If you’re curious about how systems leadership could complement your grantmaking strategy, we’d welcome a conversation. At Reos Partners, we collaborate with foundations and their grantees to design capacity-building experiences that are grounded in real-world initiatives.

Ready to explore how this approach could align with your goals and deepen the impact of your work? Click below.