Meet Liz Gadd, Freelance Consultant and a UK-based Multisolver. Liz specializes in working at the intersection of social and environmental issues and has worked with charities and philanthropic organizations to do the same for over 25 years. Liz hosted a Multisolving book club and shared some of her insights from the experience thus far. Learn more about Liz’s book club journey and a podcast interview below:
We are halfway through our book club journey reading Multisolving by Elizabeth Sawin and reflecting on the potential for more multisolving in the UK; in other words, the practice of intentionally setting out to address multiple social, environmental, and (in)equity challenges together through one initiative, policy, or funding programme. We are a group of nearly thirty senior leaders — including charity professionals, funders, fundraisers, campaigners, consultants, and entrepreneurs from a diverse range of cause areas across the UK. What unites us is a shared curiosity about how multisolving can unlock better, fairer solutions to the complex social and environmental challenges that our communities face.
What’s become clear is this: multisolving makes intuitive sense to many of us as individuals, but remains frustratingly difficult to realise within the institutional systems we work in.
Siloed working is not inevitable
A recurring theme has been the structural and cultural silos that shape much of civil society in the UK. We have heard reflections on how people are often expected to stay in their lanes, for example, conservation professionals being subtly (or explicitly) discouraged from venturing into health or education. The result is fragmentation of effort and expertise, which undermines the very cross-sector solutions that multisolving entails.
Yet, we’ve also recognised that these systems are not fixed; they are made by us and therefore can be changed by us.”
Convening across traditional boundaries has surfaced as a vital first step. We’ve drawn inspiration from across multiple sectors, where there are glimpses of successful change, albeit slower than needed. Examples such as Culture for Climate Scotland, Real Zero, and the Regenerative Futures Fund reinforce our belief that transformation is possible, even if our collective path isn’t always clear.
Collaboration needs funding
A major barrier to multisolving that has been woven throughout our conversations is, perhaps inevitably, funding. While collaboration is often encouraged, it’s rarely resourced at the level required. The upfront investment of time to build relationships and trust frequently falls to charities to resource before partnership-based funding proposals are submitted. And shared learning doesn’t always sit comfortably within grant frameworks focused on measurable outcomes and linear logic models. As one leader reflected, “Our systems often reward laser focus rather than holistic impact.” We know progressive funders are experimenting with more equitable and flexible approaches, but they remain the exception. And so this is an area ripe for change to support more multisolving that address interconnected social and environmental issues.
Shifting mindsets is a key first step
Multisolving requires not just structural change, but a fundamental mindset shift. We’ve talked about the importance of contribution over attribution — in other words, moving away from proving that ‘we’ made the difference, toward demonstrating how ‘we’ contributed to a shared goal. This mindset is essential in complex systems where impact is emergent and non-linear. Plus, the temptation to focus on short-term wins can be strong, especially in a context where funders and policymakers expect rapid, quantifiable results.
But multisolving challenges us to think bigger and to explore how we can create impact across multiple time horizons at the same time.
We’ve also begun to discuss the importance of recognising leverage points to bring about change more than trying to ‘fix’ an issue within one short-term intervention. This requires us to recognise where relatively small actions might produce outsized ripple effects. Mapping systems, identifying tipping points, and understanding feedback loops are critical tools here. Where might a system be nearing a tipping point? What are the small shifts we can make now that might set off a positive cascade? Which of those actions will impact multiple issues of concern simultaneously? Sharing successful examples and being honest about where we’ve seen momentum and where we haven’t is all part of how we build collective power to multisolve together.
Some in our group have begun to spark more such strategic conversations in their own organisations. However, whilst systems thinking has been a popular topic of conversation for many years, it remains that many of us, and those we work with, don’t see the full system. We only see our own information, data, funding, and actions. To see the full picture, we need to see what others see. For that reason, recurring topics have been the importance of more working ‘in the open’, of sharing generously, and the importance of bringing people together to surface and increase visibility of intersectional opportunities.
What’s Next?
As we look ahead to reading the second half of the book together, we’re excited to be joined by the author, Beth Sawin, in our final session, and grateful for a small grant that will help us co-design next steps. There’s an appetite to build upon the sense of community that has emerged from coming together for the book club, and we’re slowly beginning to reflect on what might come next. Could we identify reinforcing feedback loops specific to our sector? Could we map the systems we’re part of and test different points of leverage? Could we build a learning community that shares and amplifies success?
Whatever comes next, our learning so far suggests that the real power of multisolving lies not in any one project, but in a collective mindset shift. One that embraces complexity, centres contribution, and dares to act at the scale the moment demands.
Listen to Liz speak about multisolving on the UK’s Charity Chat podcast. Visit Liz’s website to learn more about her multisolving work.
