Working with a funder to support their grantees: making space for leadership in the refugee and migration sector

A collaboration based on shared values, coherence and empowerment. 

“What I feel you get from WRKWLL is a real breadth of experts but with each expert having a depth of their own”

The Need

Unbound Philanthropy invests in leaders and organizations in the US and UK working to build a vibrant, welcoming society and just immigration system, as part of a pluralist and inclusive democracy. 

The foundation recognises that financial investment alone is often not enough. What leaders often need is space to think, reflect, and access specialised expertise.

To provide this kind of support, Unbound partnered with WRKWLL in 2024.

A Different Model of Capacity Building

WRKWLL brings together a diverse community of experienced coaches, facilitators, and sector experts. This means that rather than sourcing consultants individually, Unbound works through a single partnership that gives its network access to a wide range of expertise and support, several with lived experience of the refugee protection system themselves.

“Working with WRKWLL involves only one contract, but access to a wealth of expertise across multiple areas.” – Alice Sachrajda (UK Programme Officer - Climate Migration & UK Head of Cultural Strategy)

A Flexible Menu of Support

After spending time listening and understanding specific needs, the co-designed support services included:

• 1 to 1 coaching
• Action Learning sets
• Thematic, co-created workshops on topics such as fundraising, lived-experience leadership and storytelling as a more inclusive and equitable mechanism to measure and communicate impact.

As the collaboration evolved, and the network was empowered to select their most favoured means of support, WRKWLL flexed to meet these needs.  

Feedback from the coaching element includes: 

“We quickly realised that the people we offered the coaching to just got so much out of it… the very personal and individualised approach allowed transformational changes to occur”.

The model of support allows leaders who Unbound refers to review WRKWLL coach profiles and choose the individual who best fits their needs.

“From my own experience, I know that not all coaches are alike. It’s important to give people the chance to connect with a coach where they feel a good degree of connection”.

Leadership Transformation in Practice

In one example, a CEO of a charity used coaching sessions to reflect on the organisation’s leadership structure.

Through this process, she decided to introduce a co-Chief Executive role, strengthening the leadership team and improving organisational resilience.

“She changed the leadership structure of her organisation as a result of the coaching she received… she needed to talk things through in order to figure out what the next steps should be”.

Today, the organisation is thriving under the new model.

Depth and Breadth of Expertise

What Alice has appreciated as the collaboration progressed, is “the specificity of the expertise” and “having access to WRKWLL consultants who are experienced on a particular issue, and can talk with a high degree of authenticity and real depth of knowledge”. 

For Unbound Philanthropy, this means confidence that whatever challenge arises, the right expertise can be found.

A Trusted Operational Partnership

Beyond the expertise itself, Unbound values the ease of working with WRKWLL. Alice said about her point of contact at WRKWLL:  

“She is incredibly efficient, a very, very good communicator, lovely to work with, very thoughtful and has always listened very carefully to what we need. With WRKWLL there's a dedication and an efficiency which means I know that the work will be taken care of”.

A Win-Win Model

The partnership demonstrates how funders can support grantees beyond traditional grant making.

By combining flexible funding with a community of experienced practitioners, Unbound Philanthropy and WRKWLL have created a model that strengthens leadership and organisational resilience.