Preparing for Global Summit Involvement

• Develop long-term goals as early as possible in the summit process. “You have to think about what your goals are, going in. Now, my goals are often to help grantees spotlight an issue – to pluralize the voices that are engaged in these debates, to bring voices to that debate that would not have been there without us..."
• Learn more about related policy issues from the perspective of other countries, regions, and organizations. It makes sense early on to confer with other funders, grantees, policymakers, and scholars to learn their views on a summit and related opportunities, and where the issues to be addressed fall within their spheres of work.
• Learn the basics of the summit preparatory process itself. Summits are highly complex political and bureaucratic events, in which such banal details as accreditation deadlines can make or break the effectiveness of a grant. Donors probably need not become as expert in a summit process as grantees eventually need to be. But grantmakers should get an overview of the summit’s major players at the U.N. and among governments, the summit timeline, and its general rules of procedure.
• Develop informational networks and funding partnerships whenever possible within and outside your foundation. In the early days of summit planning, funders and grantees can play an important role in informing colleagues who are less knowledgeable about summit processes. These kinds of activities generate partnerships that can increase the impact of any one donor.
• Consider hiring a consultant or adding an intern to your team. Keeping track of a summit’s progress can be time-consuming. Depending on the level of resources available for summit work, donors may wish to retain a consultant or fund an intern to help monitor the summit’s progress and help with related program activities. Networks of funders and grantees could also use this tactic to keep the whole group informed at a level that would be beyond the means of any one member.