We are now accepting BridgeBuilder Challenge ideas until Friday April 14th, a one-week extension of our initial deadline! Inspired by submissions so far and the continued strong interest in the Challenge, we are excited to see new proposals and current proposals grow through collaboration, iteration and feedback on the platform. To potential grantees who have  yet to submit, we hope this extension will encourage you to join the Challenge sooner rather than later and collaborate within our community until the deadline.

Have questions?
Last week, OpenIDEO held conference calls with community members to answer questions and provide insight. You can find resources prepared for the calls here, and a recording of the sessions here. Listen to hear questions from peer organizations and better understand the process behind the Challenge.

Dig deeper using these resources:

• How to Submit an Idea
• What Happens After I Submit an Idea?
• Why Open Innnovation?
• Anatomy of a Challenge Idea
• What Makes a Strong Idea?
• More About the Challenge
• Adding Visual Goodness to Your Ideas

For more information on the BridgeBuilder Challenge and GHR's other impact areas, contact us.

GHR Foundation is partnering with OpenIDEO, an open innovation platform, to conduct the BridgeBuilder Challenge.  Why use open innovation to run the BridgeBuilder Challenge? The answer is simple—we believe this transparent, collaborative and iterative approach has the potential to change how grant making is done. 

​Modeled on IDEO's human-centered design methodology, OpenIDEO's unique brand of open innovation uses a collaborative process to focus attention on important topics and create a space for community members to contribute and build on each others' thinking. Open innovation can help organizations around the world develop new ideas, collect diverse perspectives and solve problems together. Our partnership with OpenIDEO will help us discover social innovators doing critical work often overlooked by private funders.

​Unlike traditional RFPs or challenge models, an open innovation platform also allows our participants access to a number of resources beyond the funds awarded and a partnership with GHR. Challenge participants also receive:

The open innovation process is transparent, collaborative and iterative—we sincerely believe it will make our work and the work of our partners better. In the spirit of both open innovation and our design-build approach to philanthropy, we plan to share what we learn from this unique grant making process.

If you have an idea solving an urgent global challenge at the intersection of peace, prosperity and planet, submit here by April 14. The earlier ideas are submitted, the more support you will have as your idea develops. For more information on the BridgeBuilder Challenge and GHR's other impact areas, contact us.

Our world faces complex, interconnected challenges that cannot be solved in isolation. Many of these issues are emerging and growing at a rate that requires immediate action to provide relief, restoration and reconciliation.

GHR Foundation is partnering with OpenIDEO to conduct the BridgeBuilder Challenge, addressing the pressing and emergent concerns of our time in the areas of peace, prosperity and planet. The deadline to apply is April 14, 2017.

With this program, GHR—in collaboration with OpenIDEO, an open innovation platform—will seek out and invest in organizations developing solutions for the global good. Stemming from our founders’ values, the challenge seeks to support new and innovative projects that respond to needs in two or more of these areas, in the United States and around the world. The top ideas selected from the challenge will receive a total of $1 million in funding, in addition to support provided by our experts. All participants will benefit from the platform's collaborative improvement process and opportunities for connection to new partners and potential funders.

To learn more and apply for the BridgeBuilder Challenge, visit the OpenIDEO page.

GHR Foundation's Children in Families funding supports child protection interventions that strengthen families, respond to children without family care and drive further evidence of innovative, pro-family approaches. One important component of this work is advocating for innovative solutions and helping organizations in the field implement them. Family for Every Child, a Children in Families grantee, recently published a document that will be a valuable resource for the protection of children around the world--the Guidelines on Children’s Reintegration.

​Since 2011, Family for Every Child has been working with a group of child protection agencies to create the Guidelines on the Reintegration of Children. They consulted 158 children as well as 127 service providers and policy-makers from 66 organizations in more than 20 countries, and received endorsements from 31 organizations. Global research demonstrates that children raised in families or family-like settings have better cognitive, emotional and social outcomes than those living outside family care. International law and policies lack comprehensive guidance on reintegrating children back into families and communities from institutions, so this document will be a valuable tool for those working to enhance the protection of children around the world.

The Guidelines are intended to aid governments, donors, nonprofits, faith-based organizations and practitioners in pursuing reintegration as the primary response in cases of separated children. They provide practical guidance for effective reintegration that can help organizations design high quality programs, measure impact, train practitioners and pursue national level systemic change in support of reintegration.

To learn more about how GHR is working with Family for Every Child to pursue a world where all children—especially those at risk of losing or without parental care—are living in a stable, positive, long-term family or family-like environment, contact us.

GHR Foundation's Inter-Religious Action funding works to improve development outcomes, build lasting community connections and advance peace by mobilizing religious leaders and communities to address common challenges. GHR was recently honored to host USAID, a key partner in our global development initiatives. With a shared focus on sustainable local impact, GHR leverages the government agency's resources in places like the Central African Republic, Cambodia and Nigeria to improve development outcomes, build lasting community connections and advance peace by mobilizing religious leaders and communities to address common challenges.
 
A recent column by the Star Tribune's John Rash recognizes the role of Minnesota-based institutions such as GHR on the global stage, especially when it comes to issues like countering extremism. Both the American Refugee Committee's (ARC) John Griffith and USAID's Associate Administrator Eric Postel remarked on the importance of partnership in strengthening communities. "Postel pointed to ARC’s efforts," Rash writes, "as well as those from many Minnesota-based entities such as the GHR Foundation as examples of how design isn’t only about places, but processes, such as interfaith dialogues."

GHR recently attended the “Diplomacy Begins Here Summit,” hosted by Global Minnesota in partnership with the State Department and Global Ties U.S. at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Participants from the State Department and local peacebuilding organizations discussed approaches to countering extremism. GHR's Communication Director Chris Berger had the opportunity to moderate a discussion with plenary speaker George Selim, director of the Office of Community Partnerships at the Department of Homeland Security, on promoting community resilience.

During their visit to GHR, Postel and the director of USAID’s Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Mark Brinkmoeller discussed the agency’s belief in public-private partnerships and its growing commitment to faith-based initiatives. Brinkmoeller and Postel then sat down with senior program advisor Andreas Hipple for a video interview on the expanding partnership, as well as GHR’s ongoing inter-religious action leadership. Watch the discussion below.

GHR's Inter-Religious Action initiative is founded on the belief that when religious leaders and communities collaborate on issues of common concern they can solve difficult problems, build trusting relationships, strengthen social cohesion and advance peace. GHR is not alone in this conviction—we partner with many like-minded individuals and organizations working to promote inter-religious collaboration and share best practices. One such partner is the Alliance for Peacebuilding, which convened a meeting in Istanbul last week as part of its GHR-funded Effective Inter-religious Action in Peacebuilding (EIAP) program.
 
EIAP is a groundbreaking three-year initiative seeking to improve the evaluation practices of inter-religious peacebuilding by addressing three specific gaps in inter-religious peacebuilding efforts—measurement, cooperation and policy. During the meeting, a group of 30 thought leaders and practitioners from Israel, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and the United States shared experiences and made recommendations for a new comprehensive and practical guide to evaluating inter-religious action. A draft of the guide will be field-tested in diverse environments during the coming year before it is shared broadly.

Beyond enhancing the guide EIAP is developing, the fruitful conversations had during the meeting made valuable connections that will help build the field of inter-religious action for peacebuilding as a whole. GHR's work with EIAP is a part of our efforts to bring the potential of inter-religious action to new places and partners. To learn more about GHR's inter-religious funding, contact us.