DEEPER DIVE INTO PRACTICE OF PANDO FUNDING

Hello! This is a Pando Funding deep dive; one of several concepts where we dig deeper into a critical aspect of Pando Funding. To explore why we believe it matters and to share what we’ve learned while leading the New Capitalism Project, a US-based system change network to transform the economic system so that it works for all people and the planet. These deep dives are offered as tools to help you adapt Pando Funding to your context – to animate Pando Funding as a shared, living practice rather than a fixed model.    

Clustering IN ACTION

Clusters provide a bridge between a network’s root enabling conditions and its coordinated action. Clusters reduce fragmentation by bringing together a subset of members to act with a common motivation. Pando Funding—and the decision-making cluster leaders have to allocate a portion of the network’s capital--provides the structure, resources, and alignment needed for clusters of participating organizations to move from ideas to impact.

Central to clustering is a cluster strategy--the group's shared intentions, priorities, and mechanisms for decision-making. This strategy provides a framework for adaptive action, while holding leaders accountable to each other as they work towards their shared vision.

A cluster strategy fills two key objectives:

  • Constitutes the cluster internally. The strategy formalizes a shared direction and a process for traveling together, helping clarify and deepen members’ relationships and commitment to a specific body of work.

  • Makes the cluster legible externally.  The strategy defines the use of network resources, clarifies how the work aligns to the broader network vision, and how learning and accountability will flow.

At the same time, cluster strategies must reflect the unique challenges of shifting complex systems and of working as a group of independent and diverse organizations. At its core, a robust cluster strategy should include:

  1. Transformational Vision: A bold shared purpose nested within the broader network's vision--clear enough to guide action, expansive enough to inspire.

  2. Shared Understanding of Barriers: A collective view of the systemic challenges the cluster is tackling—allowing for coordinated and adaptive responses that leverage the diverse strengths and assets of cluster members.

  3. Action-Learning Framework: A living approach to experimentation and reflection--where hypotheses are tested through a portfolio of projects, bridging between near-term interventions and long-term vision: where strategy evolves as insights emerge.

In practice, cluster members align and augment aspects of their individual work, collectively determine how to allocate pooled financial resources and jointly govern their portfolio of projects. Cluster strategies empower groups of organization to work in ways that would be impossible without these “containers” – as integrated, experimental and accountable collectives.

A system change network, in its most ideal and “healthy” form, becomes a platform for many clusters. And in turn, these clusters enable networks to act at multiple levels at once--across different issues, institutions, and against different leverage points. This creates a system of intervention as clusters act, amplify learning, deepen resilience and drive impact.

Ultimately, clusters are where a network's shared vision meets coordinated action. They are how system change networks move—not as isolated actors, but as aligned, creative teams with the power to shift whole systems.

Guideposts in Practice

From the NCP Lab to NCP Clusters

The journey through systemic transformation rarely begins with a clear set of solutions to scale; but rather, with shared hunches about what might matter. NCP’s Economic System Change Lab acted as pre-funding infrastructure—naming uncertainty, testing assumptions, and holding space for speculative collaboration. Pando Funding’s power is in not only resourcing idea formation, but also then funding project execution.

The New Capitalism Project (NCP) began with a bold aim: to foster new ways for organizations to work together to transform our economic system. Over time, our approach has evolved into what we now describe as clustering. The NCP Lab was an early milestone in that evolution. It put into practice key ideas that now define clustering—testing what it takes for a network to act with coherence and ambition:

  • Grounding diverse ideas and actions in a shared vision and understanding of systemic barriers.

  • Valuing experimentation and adaptation, not a single plan, to move towards this shared vision.

  • Centering multiple collaborating organizations as powerful "units of change."

  • Recognizing the transformative power of sustained relationships and shared learning within the broader NCP network.

Key insights emerged from the Lab, and pointed towards the need and potential for clustering as part of Pando Funding:

  • Readiness is dynamic. In a living network, different parts of the network are ready to act at different times. When shared opportunity and motivation align, the network needs flexible containers that can hold that energy and direct resources to it—quickly and effectively.

  • System work needs structure. “Experimentation” understates what this work requires. While adaptation based on learning is core, this is not lightweight testing. Influencing complex systems demands durable structures that can hold substantial capital, living project portfolios, adapt in real time, and create the right safeguards for meaningful collective action.

  • Uncertainty is part of the path. Some of the most promising initiatives with the greatest potential for clustering involved high levels of uncertainty—and pushed leaders to their action learning edges. These initiatives revealed the need for “protective environments” – where members can experiment, experience setbacks, adapt, and hold each other accountable to long-term outcomes not just short-term wins.

Out of the NCP Lab, distinct clusters emerged—arising from a convergence of shifting external conditions, evolving member priorities, and each purpose-built around a specific opportunity to intervene in the economic system. Although clustering is not a one-size-fits-all approach, the clusters emerging from NCP follow a similar arc:

  • Start with a shared “hunch.” Convening a motivated group to explore a potential clustering opportunity.

  • Develop a cluster strategy. Built clarity about the vision, priorities, and practicalities of working together—and create useful “on-ramps” for funders.

  • Move into action. Set a clear intention to learn and act together– with pooled resources, clear roles, and a commitment to the transformational vision. 

While each cluster navigates its unique lifecycle, network stewards must remain focused on the whole. This entails nurturing connections between clusters and the broader NCP network, making sure the sum adds up to more than the parts. This is how we build a critical mass of aligned, networked action to transform our economic system.

GUIDING QUESTION

What are the specific, existing hunches within your network for how certain members could change the relationships among their work towards a shift within the broader system? What supports does the network already provide to catalyze these hunches and what other supports and structures could accelerate them further?

Each deep dive offers a guiding question, as a jumping off point for exploring a particular aspect of Pando Funding in your own work and context.