General operating support, hands-on coaching and thought partnership, and capacity building services.
Growth Portfolio’s combination of advisory services and capacity building is, in many ways, our secret sauce. We’re not just about being your thought partner in mission, we’re also about getting you the just-in-time resources you need to meet challenges head-on and make the space to grow.
Our advisory services are a mashup of business acumen, emotional intelligence, and active problem solving. And our capacity building sources from what we’ve learned over the past 25 years to deliver the most promising technical assistance support.
There’s no sugarcoating it: this experience is intense, requiring a significant time investment from entrepreneurs, like you, who already have a full plate. Half the battle of getting the most out of our Growth Portfolio is coming in at the right time for you and your enterprise. Read on to learn more about the nature of the commitment to determine if this is a fit for you.
Note: REDF is building out our future 2026-2030 strategy, and as a result, the 2025 Growth Portfolio cohort will have a few notable differences from previous cohorts . We anticipate returning to a broader investment focus with a multi-year funding model starting in 2026.
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Paul FordhamDeputy Executive Director, Homeward Bound
Advisory Services
Enterprises are assigned a relationship manager — aka a primary contact and trusted partner — over the three-year period. The relationship manager’s goal is to be your glue and your guiding light. They spar and ideate with you on how to strengthen your business and employment model and help you navigate the array of REDF resources available. Bonus: they here to support the entire organization — not just the CEO or executive director.
Getting the most out of this relationship requires a pretty rigorous cadence of communication: typically a monthly meeting (1-2 hours/month) to check in, share updates, and problem-solve with your relationship manager. You’ll also be asked to attend learning conversations (5-10 hours/quarter) and meetings for capacity building activities (projects that you pick together based on where the need is greatest).
Baseline Assessments
A distillation of what we’ve learned over the past 25 years, the baseline assessment is a tool we use to measure where your enterprise is in its journey as an organization and help us identify the areas of highest priority for capacity building investment.
Broken down into six key areas — team and human resources, business and finance, employee success, fundraising, operations, and growth and recognition (each a driver in ESE health and sustainability) — this tool is grounded or based in a maturity model that depicts how these areas typically evolve over time.
We gather the inputs for the baseline through questionnaires and conversations, and then we bundle the findings to give you a comprehensive view of your organization’s current state and guide some of our work together. Good news: it’s a tight synthesis of all the things you’re crushing and an easy read on areas for growth. Grantees should plan to spend roughly 10 hours on this process.
Capacity Building
Informed by our conversation and the baseline assessment, you’ll work with your relationship manager to co-create a year-long work plan of capacity building to help the enterprise to grow. Grantees should anticipate dedicating up to 10 hours per month to these technical assistance projects.
Don’t panic: these projects often align with work you’re already doing, and since you will help pick the projects, the intent is that this time pays off for you — saving your team time or maximizing opportunity downstream.Â
Finally, we get that things can change rapidly in social enterprises. So, know that your relationship manager will work with you to course-correct as needed.
Reporting
As we work with you to grow, we also ask you to work with us to inform the field on the impact of this movement and to inform ourselves on the impact of our programming, so we can get stronger too.Â
We will work with you to determine the best way to manage any data collection constraints. We also commit to sharing aggregated data with our portfolio, funders, and policymakers to facilitate learning and advocate for increased investment in the field.
Finally, on occasion, you may also be asked to complete shorter (<10 minute) surveys on an ad-hoc basis (e.g. feedback on technical assistance projects and an annual pulse survey to understand grantee satisfaction with the Growth Portfolio experience). (Grantees who are concurrent RIIF borrowers will still have to comply with additional reporting requirements as stipulated on the loan agreements.)
How We Work with ESE Leaders
Learn more about our technical assistance