A LITTLE BIT ABOUT OUR
FUNDERS
FORUM
The Funders Forum is an invitation-only, modular and flexible global architecture, designed to service the needs funders and investors. It enables capital owners and providers to align capital, learning, risk and foresight in complex fields where continuity, coordination, partnership, design, and timing determine whether initiatives scale or stall.
the funders forum
The Funders Forum is an invitation only alignment, learning, orchestration, and capital design platform created to support funders and investors in making better aligned capital decisions within complex and system critical domains where timing, coordination, and continuity materially affect outcomes.
Philanthropy plays a leading role within the Forum, particularly in hard-fo-finance areas, systemic investment, shaping early risk, system priorities, and long term institutional capacity. At the same time, the platform convenes venture philanthropy, impact investors, family offices, institutional capital, and relevant public actors to explore how different forms of capital can act independently — including alongside other capital — or in coordinated constellations.
The Forum operates across sectors and across strategically important bioregions, themes, and basins. It focuses on how capital architecture evolves over time — how priorities are set, how risk is sequenced, how next generation capital stacks are structured, and how portfolios transition from early catalytic support to durable and systemic scale.
It also provides a trusted setting for portfolio level thinking and structured capital design, enabling funders and investors to assess opportunities, align sequencing, and determine where independent deployment is appropriate and where coordinated capital constellations could materially improve outcomes.
The Forum is designed and convened by MNK Global, drawing on senior advisory work across philanthropy, public funding, and long term investment. It was first convened in 2025 in collaboration with European partners, including under the Danish EU Council Presidency with support from the VELUX Foundation.
how the forum works
The Funders Forum is not a fund, but it is explicitly designed to enable alignment, coordination, and funding outcomes.
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Through senior, curated convenings, participants develop a shared, decision-grade understanding of existing portfolios, initiatives, and emerging needs across a field. This includes identifying where capital is already deployed, where it is working, where it is fragmented, and where new or unmet needs are emerging that require coordinated attention.
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The Forum is used both to strengthen what already exists and to formulate new opportunities. Participants may convene around a specific theme, region, or emerging challenge in order to understand it collectively, clarify what kinds of solutions or investment pathways could be viable, and determine how different forms of capital might engage.
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This shared understanding enables alignment without loss of mandate or control. It allows participants to move toward concrete outcomes — including co-funding, matching, aligned portfolios, curated deal processes, or open calls — while retaining independent decision-making and distinct strategies.
the forum lab: capital design, learning, and option-identity
Alongside the Forum, the Funders Forum Lab provides an opt-in space for deeper work.
The Lab is where participants design and explore investment and funding options aligned with future needs. This includes working across the full spectrum of capital — from single investments seeking market-rate returns, to patient, catalytic, or more experimental approaches — and understanding how these can be sequenced or stacked over time rather than forced into blended structures.
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In the Lab, participants:
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develop and test capital stack concepts and portfolio approaches
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idetify and understand emerging and evolving future funding opportunities
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explore how philanthropic, public, and private capital can play complementary roles
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translate emerging challenges into investable or fundable pathways
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build readiness for opportunities that are not yet fully legible to markets
The Lab provides the learning infrastructure to do this collectively: shared frameworks, design processes, and accumulated insight on how to align capital for continuity and scale. It is explicitly designed to support both identification of new opportunities and preparation for coordinated investment when conditions are right.
outcomes and the role of philanthropy
The Funders Forum is outcome-oriented.
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Participants leave with clearer visibility on where opportunities exist or are emerging, greater alignment on roles and timing across different forms of capital, and increased readiness to act — whether through strengthening existing investments, launching new funding initiatives, designing capital stacks, or entering co-funding or matching arrangements.
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Philanthropy plays a central role in this process. Foundations are often best positioned to absorb uncertainty, support early learning, and enable the design and alignment work required before scale is possible. The Forum is designed to help philanthropy act as connective infrastructure: extending the impact of existing portfolios, shaping new opportunities, and creating clearer pathways for public and private capital to engage later.
At the same time, the Forum is explicitly designed for long-term investors, family offices, and asset owners seeking clearer, better-timed entry into credible opportunities — from conventional investments to more innovative and system-shaping approaches.
who is it for?
The Funders Forum is designed for senior actors across philanthropy, public funding, investment, and advisory roles who are concerned not only with allocation, but with how opportunities are identified, designed, and funded over time.
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Participation is by invitation.
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