Case Study: William Buckland Foundation
The William Buckland Foundation (WBF) has adopted the Pay What It Takes (PWIT) philosophy, moving from providing traditional project-based funding to a model that support Not-For-Profits to allocate funding according to their identified priorities.
The Foundation’s journey with Pay What It Takes demonstrates the importance of funding the true costs of enabling organisational impact, building trust-based relationships, and fostering sector-wide collaboration.
In this case study, Jenny McGregor (Chair) and Ferdi Hepworth (Foundation Lead), explore the evolution, challenges and practical strategies of implementing PWIT, offering guidance for both funders and grantees.
1. Getting involved with Pay What It Takes
“We’re expecting For Purpose organisations to do all those things, without funding it ourselves.”
— Ferdi Hepworth
Ferdi Hepworth:
The William Buckland Foundation team became involved with Pay What It Takes through our decades of experience with philanthropy and the social sector which revealed a consistent challenge. Organisations delivering exceptional outcomes didn't have the money to cover their core or basic costs.
Strategic leadership, effective systems, compliance, and learning and development are all critical to innovative organisations. But we're expecting For Purpose organisations to do all those things, without funding it ourselves.
We started to recognise that funding the cost of projects only undermines sustainability.
For many years, our focus was on project funding, and we moved to a different funding approach because we recognised that the old way of funding doesn't measure what's unvalued – the organisational costs required to deliver those projects.
“Funding the cost of projects only undermines sustainability.”
We began by adding a percentage of funds which could be applied to cover impact measurement costs, on top of what we were committing to our grantees for program costs. We recognised we had to add on an amount for those costs because we couldn't expect grantees to absorb them.
When COVID hit, we doubled down on the grantees we were working with, making it much easier for them to get grants, having conversations about what their real needs were and we untied funding – we allowed them to redirect funding to where they most needed to at that time.
These experiences really backed in our approach of evolving to providing untied full cost funding.
Jenny McGregor:
We were at a point where we had numerous grantees, and we felt like we couldn't do enough for everybody. In fact, we were doing a little across much too big a canvas.
“It would be more powerful and more effective for communities if we doubled down and worked with fewer grantees.”
And that whole process coincided with us getting involved some 10 years ago with an organisation called Our Place. This happened initially in quite a small way with the school's music program. We then realised how powerful this project was, how transformational it was for communities, and how beautifully managed it was by the people involved.
And we felt that we needed to put more money in and to work with them more closely. We visited the site and met the people involved. We shared their frustrations, and we came to understand their challenges.
We fell in love with the project quite honestly. And that was because we had all our trustees out there. We were meeting children in the school as well as parents. And we realised that it would be more powerful and more effective for communities, and for solving the really wicked problems that our community was facing, if we doubled down and worked with fewer grantees and really made sure that they were going to be sustainable and achieve their impacts.
2. Organisational Challenges
Ferdi Hepworth:
The key organisational changes or barriers encountered in relation to PWIT, were about mindsets - for all of us.
We built deeper relationships with our grant partners and through that process of really listening to their needs created space for more honest conversations.
We fed those conversations back into the trustee discussions and meetings. But even so, it took a long time to challenge the “30% admin costs was bad” mindset. That mindset change was the main one we needed to make as an organisation.
“We shifted our language from ‘what are your admin costs and overheads’ to ‘what does it cost to do this right?’”
We built trustee confidence through directly hearing from grant partners and hearing examples of when things go right, or when things don't go so well.
We shifted our language from what are your admin costs and overheads to what does it cost to do this right, which is a very different conversation.
The changes required discussion and iteration, and they didn’t happen overnight, but for us, it's strengthened our approach and our granting strategy.
3. The criticality of a Pay What It Takes philosophy for William Buckland Foundation grant making
Ferdi Hepworth:
The Pay What It Takes approach is critical for WBF grant making because it underpins our commitment to trust-based philanthropy, deeper partnerships and to funding the drivers of impact, not just the program activities. Having funding for people, systems and learning and development, are all super important for organisations creating sustained change in difficult contexts.
“Pay What It Takes signals more genuine partnerships rather than transactional relationships.”
We like the approach because it signals more genuine partnerships rather than transactional relationships.
And we believe that a long-term ground-up approach, will improve the wellbeing of Victorian children and young people in greatest need which is our main goal and vision for the Foundation.
What we've had to do though, is manage the tension between being nimble, and staying the course. And that's hard because there's always something that deserves our attention.
The recent Victorian bushfires are a great example of where we had to match the desire to be helpful and support Victorians in need, and at the same time consider how best we can continue to support, in a strategic way, the current cohort we're working with.
It requires us to talk to our grantee partners at a time that's right and finding out about what they need from us, and what they will need from us in the coming months.
We discuss things like how life has changed; what can we best do to support them, and how do we help support the future for them.
That tension of being nimble to help with crises versus being long term and staying the course, is something we must check ourselves on constantly. We ask: is this true to our strategy and to what we're trying to achieve in our bigger goals?
“That tension of being nimble versus staying the course is something we must check ourselves on constantly.”
4. Crucial elements for getting people on board with Pay What It Takes, and hints or tips for engaging trustees
Jenny McGregor:
I think we were very fortunate in that we have several trustees who have been in the position of running Not-For-Profits, so they understand the challenges and what’s involved. I'm one of them.
We understand how hard it is to run a Not-For-Profit; how difficult it is to make arguments to funders to secure funding sources that stay the course with you, and who are genuinely able to understand that you're only going to be able to deliver if you can be in a position to create a viable, professional, sustainable organisation.
I think our trustees are also frustrated by the fact that good organisations fail because they are not able to genuinely look at their organisation and ask for what they need.
So, I think that's why sharing those learnings amongst the sector is important and it all helps in getting other trustees on board with you.
And the other thing about getting trustees involved and getting them to stay the course, is being on the ground with our grantees. At William Buckland Foundation, we've made a big effort to get out, to keep in touch with grantees, to listen to them. We sit down with them. We usually eat food together, which is just a nice way of getting people to relax and be confident and comfortable with us so that they can share their real concerns. That creation of personal relationships and bonds is critical because, staying the course to start to see tangible outcomes, means probably for at least five years.
“The creation of personal relationships and bonds is critical, because staying the course means at least five years.”
There are impacts, of course. As the sector evolves more into the Pay What It Takes approach, it means fewer organisations will receive funding. While there are always costs and benefits, I believe it's wasteful to create unsustainable organisations, and it's not a productive way to go.
5. Advice for Australian philanthropic organisations considering changing their approach to grant making
Ferdi Hepworth:
What we're talking about is covering the costs of projects and programs and supporting organisations to do the important work they need to do.
I would advise figuring out what it means for your trust or foundation or for your giving approach. It doesn't have to start with changing your entire granting strategy. It may lead there but just start small and see what works and what fits for your organisation and learn.
And the other key point is, that it's essential to co-design with your grantees. Ask: what has historically gone unfunded? And then if you can't meet the costs of that, collaborate with other like-minded funders to see who you can bring into the tent to make sure what is funded can be successful. We can always go further together.
6. WBF Pay What It Takes partnership examples
Ferdi Hepworth:
A great example of Pay What It Takes in action and a partnership that we're really proud of, is our work with Our Place.
Because we recognise the challenges that tied program or project funding create for organisations, wherever possible, we try to provide untied funding – funding that can be and allocated and directed as best needed by organisations according to their needs.
“This approach to funding is not cookie cutter; it’s needs-based.”
Most of the time that’s what our Pay What It Takes model looks like, giving organisations as much flexibility as possible, and of course, within the guidelines of our Will and Trust Deed.
Our conversations with potential grantees involve exploring expected deliverables and identifying any areas that are not currently funded.
We are funding two sites, Morwell and Seymour, for 10 years. Through conversations in Morwell, a gap was identified regarding children needing support to access allied health services. This is having a huge flow on effect around how children arrive at school ready to learn, and how they then go through the education system.
So that led to us supporting a nurse practitioner role in Morwell who acts as an assistant navigator to help families access the supports and services they need such as diagnoses of their children’s issues.
This was not initially planned or expected; it emerged naturally from conversations within the partnership, and it is now strengthening outcomes for families across Morwell.
We thought that was really good. So, then we sat down with the Seymour site staff, we shared this example and how fruitful it was. Our intention was not to tell them what to do, but to plant the seed.
They explored it and agreed that allied health is a critical piece for them too, only it's a very different model there as they're rolling out different kind of services, and there are different costings. So, what was required was funding something more bespoke, that fit their context better.
So, this approach to funding is not cookie cutter; it’s needs-based. And the example shows how we're able to enhance the work ultimately and their outcomes. So that is Pay What It Takes in action; it’s long-term, flexible funding, honest conversations and adapting to what it truly takes in each place to support better community outcomes.
7. Engaging grantee partners
Ferdi Hepworth:
It all starts with the trust and the rapport that's built through regularly engaging and connecting with our grant partners. You can't rush it.
You have to be curious about the organisations and communities you're working with and ask questions like: What's working? What's not working? What's missing? What might help? Ask open questions and allow time for things to bubble up.
Supporting applicants means not rushing to solutions. It’s a process. Lots of conversations and engagements rather than simply filling in an application through a system.
And invite candour. I always say to people: I'm really suspicious if you tell me that everything is going well, because I know from experience with other projects, that it's unlikely that's happening all the time. So please share when you have roadblocks or barriers that we as a funder might be able to assist with. Or if you need help to stay on the path, or a bit of emotional support, know that we are there.
“I’m really suspicious if you tell me that everything is going well.”
We want to hear real stories and the challenges, like when things are going wrong, as well as when things are going right. And keep equity front and centre: ask who bears the hidden costs, if core elements remain underfunded.
8. Advice to grantees on taking a Pay What It Takes approach to their projects?
Ferdi Hepworth:
My advice to grantees considering a Pay What It Takes approach, is to take the time to map your true costs – people, governance, technology, compliance, partnering and collaboration, evaluation and sharing impact. These elements all matter; they’re all important, and it's really crucial to capture them.
9. PWIT lessons for the sector?
Jenny McGregor:
I think the lessons for the sector from Pay What It Takes are all about sector efficiency and effectiveness. We all hate waste. We all hate the fact that organisations go under because their business has not been able to properly run. And funders expect organisations that they fund to be managed properly. And so, being honest about what the real costs are, and funders being prepared to fund them – it should be a no brainer. In my view, it's fundamental.
“Being honest about what the real costs are, and funders being prepared to fund them – it should be a no brainer.”
I think the other important thing to be cognisant of about Pay What It Takes, is that it will mean WBF can fund fewer organisations. So, there will be a greater imperative for us to collaborate and that will improve sector efficiency. The more we collaborate, the more we learn from each other, the more we stop reinventing wheels and duplicating – the more effective the sector is and the better off we'll all be.
The challenges are enormous, and particularly in this complex world we live in; the challenges for the people we are supporting are enormous, and we owe it to ourselves and to the sector to do it as effectively as we can, and that's what Pay What It Takes does.
10. One actionable Pay What It Takes recommendation?
Ferdi Hepworth:
One recommendation around Pay What It Takes is start small, run a pilot, start with grantees you trust and have rapport with. As a Funder, invite full cost budgets. Set some guardrails and then share what you learn. It doesn't have to be perfect, but it does just require that first step and some trial and error.
Another key recommendation is to get out there. The power of the team and trustees getting out on site, engaging with our grantees cannot be overplayed. It's about connecting head and heart.
