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Our Difference
NEO fulfills our most important role as a funder intermediary by getting money from donors to organizations on the ground tackling some of the most difficult and challenging issues of our time.
NEO made nearly $250 million in grants in the past five years.
But making grants is not all we do. NEO Philanthropy is an intermediary with a social justice mission and our goal is to provide the kind of wrap-around support that allows promising new ideas for social change to grow into real movements. NEO works outside of the traditional “transactional” intermediary box and provides high-touch support including leadership development and coaching, field building, capacity building, fundraising, strategic communications, risk management and financial oversight.
We are proud to expand and redefine the role of intermediaries to meet the changing and complex needs of the organizations and projects we support. We have become an incubator for leadership and social movements while remaining a problem solver for complex and sometimes controversial projects. Our donors invest with us for the long haul, consider us partners and look to us to refine tried and true strategies. As one of our donors recently explained, with NEO “you get a tribe, not just a transaction.”
building social movements
NEO has a long-time commitment to intersectional work and alliance building. We know that intersections matter – between movements, across issues and between actors. Our mission-focused commitment to social justice and our deep content expertise in human rights positions us to engage advocates from different movements and help them have greater impact when they leverage their shared knowledge and resources in a coordinated effort.
Additionally, through years of grantmaking, NEO understands the importance of multipronged support. We invest in organizations and support our partners through general support, rapid response, capacity building and more. In the past five years alone, NEO has awarded approximately $250 million in grants to organizations engaging in cutting edge work on the front lines of social change. We know social justice movements do not flourish to their full potential without tending to and supporting not only the work itself, but also the house that surrounds the work.
investing in leaders
Through all of NEO’s areas of work – Collaborative Funds, Fiscal Sponsorships and Donor Services – we value leadership development. Whether that’s sending grantees to a communications convening or having one-on-one meetings with NEO’s leadership to discuss fundraising goals and tactics, NEO prioritizes the growth of the next generation of leaders. While many of the organizations who choose to partner with NEO have charismatic leaders – rich in organizing experience, entrepreneurial in spirit, emboldened by great ideas – many of them need support around the skills needed to effectively run an organization. NEO provides the resources and makes the investment for long-term success, so they can grow and become the strong and effective leaders philanthropy needs.
risk taker and problem solver
Through our Fiscal Sponsorship and Donor Services programs, NEO offers a non-profit home to mission-aligned individuals and projects engaging in social change. We take a holistic approach to our partnerships and provide a range of services that fall outside of the traditional “transactional” duties of an intermediary including fundraising and development, strategic communications, legal services and much more. NEO is proud to house projects fighting for some of the most pressing issues in the national debate including LGBTQ+ rights, gender justice, racial justice, civic participation, reproductive rights and others. NEO isn’t shying away from “risky” projects and movements, instead we embrace them and the change they want to realize in the world.
For more information about NEO Philanthropy please visit our contact page