Active philanthropy follows the principles of:

Screening
We undertake a rigorous ‘due diligence’ process with all potential grantee organisations. Through this, we analyse its mission, leadership, challenges and its potential to tackle a specific social issue. This highly engaged process can take several months.

Leadership
We believe that people make change. Therefore great leaders are critical to an organisation’s ability to achieve its dreams. We seek to identify great leaders and help them build strong, high-performing non-profit organisations. These exceptional individuals know their mission. We want to help them optimise their activities and change more lives.

High Engagement
Building a positive relationship with an organisation and its people is core to our approach. Ultimately, we strive to become a trusted, yet challenging advisor, and thereby add value beyond our financial investment. 

Power of Networks
The One Foundation has an extensive network of relationships in both the business and non-profit sectors. As part of our commitment to furthering the success of our grantees, we facilitate connections with people, expertise and resources that may assist them in their activities.

Funding Core Costs
Funding for the infrastructure of a non-profit organisation is notoriously difficult to find. Perhaps because the results seem intangible and do not appear to have an immediate effect on the lives of those funders or donors wish to help.

However, we recognise that while the impact may not be immediate, it takes a strong organisation to deliver the profound, long-lasting and sustainable impact we want to see.

We invest in leadership, the development of strong, highly engaged Boards, sustainable long-term funding solutions, and the improvement of assessment and reporting on performance. Typically, we make multi-annual investments, which aim to enable leaders to develop robust, efficient organisations that achieve significant results and long term impact. 

Performance
Business Planning has proven to be one of the most valuable supports typically offered to our grantees.  This highly engaged 3-5 month strategic planning process involves the organisation, the One Foundation and external consultants.

The result is a detailed strategic and operational plan that provides a roadmap for the organisation over the term of our investment. In the process, annual milestones or key performance indicators are developed and mutually agreed. These then become the basis for performance management and reporting.

How Do We Do It?
Each area of our investment is overseen by a Portfolio Manager. He or she will actively seek out organisations that share our mission within the Republic of Ireland and Vietnam.

We look for organisations that will further our goals. In addition, they must typically be active within our fields of interest, and able to:
• Demonstrate strong leadership
• Show evidence of success
• Be advocates for change and/or think big
• Demonstrate service models that can be replicated and scaled.