OTT MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

 

Dear OTT Community, March feels like a moment of arrival. After a busy start to the year — with the School for Thinktankers wrapped up in Barcelona and the OTT Conference in Rabat now in sight — I have been thinking about how much of what we do at OTT comes back to a single question: what does it actually mean to support a think tank well? Not just to fund it, but to strengthen it. This month, I want to highlight some ways we are trying to answer that question together with you. Our advisory programme works directly with think tank leaders — offering tailored, one-to-one support on the management and strategic challenges that don't get resolved in a grant proposal. The School for Thinktankers builds the skills and networks that leaders carry with them long after the week in Barcelona ends. And the OTT Conference brings our community together to think harder, and more honestly, about what it takes to build institutions that last. If you are a funder wondering how to deepen your support to grantees beyond the grant itself, these are three concrete places to start. You will also notice something different about this newsletter. We have reorganised it around the three areas where OTT does most of its work: supporting funders, think tanks, and users of evidence. The aim is to make it easier for you to find what is most relevant to you — and to be clearer about what we are doing in each space. We are also getting ready to launch OTT memberships — more on that very soon. For now, I'm sure you will find something useful in what follows. Until next month, Enrique Mendizabal What’s new at OTT? INITIATIVE State of the Sector Survey 2026 — deadline 31 March Take the survey → PODCAST New series: Think tanks in a changing Myanmar Tune in → RESOURCE Budgeting & financial resilience for think tanks Learn more → Featured content New blogs: Ten years of the Open Think Tank Directory: From a spreadsheet to a shared public resource, by Camila Ulloa Torres “Lying” is easier that “telling the truth”: What think tanks can’t do about it (and what they can), by Enrique Mendizabal Strengthening Myanmar’s knowledge infrastructure: Why diaspora think tanks matter, by Jaivet Ealom Reflecting on the On Think Tanks School for Thinktankers: Working with diaspora think tanks, by Napas Thein Optimisme sous pression : comment les think tanks en Afrique s’adaptent aux mutations financières, politiques et technologiques, par Camila Ulloa Torres Think tank briefs & interviews with policy leaders: CAPPES: From education, for education — in conversation with Jorge Mori and Karina Morales from the Centre for Analysis and Foresight of Higher Education (CAPPES) Istanbul Policy Center: A balancing act — in conversation with its director, Senem Aydın Düzgit From “fundraising loneliness” to a national community: Sharmagh Sakounts on raising funds for a think tank and building a national community of fundraising professionals — in conversation with Sharmagh Sakounts, APRI Armenia Do you have insights, case studies, or groundbreaking research to share? Submit your article​​​​​​​ to reach a global audience of policy experts, change-makers, and thought leaders. Our services Supporting better-informed decision-making. Support to funders Register here → On 25 March, OTT will host a learning call with members of the African Education Research Funders Consortium (AERFC) to explore how collective funder learning can catalyse genuine system change in education research funding. The call will draw on OTT's ongoing grant analysis work with AERFC members and address the practical question of what it looks like — in portfolio, partnership, and organisational terms — to move from sharing insights to changing practice. Learn more about our work with funders → Support to think tanks New Tool: Funder Conditions and Requirements — A Resource for Think Tank Budgeting and Financial Sustainability Understanding what funders actually require — in terms of budgeting, contracting, reporting, and indirect costs — is one of the most practically difficult parts of running a think tank. OTT has published a new tool to help: Funder Conditions and Requirements: A Resource for Think Tank Budgeting and Financial Sustainability. The resource combines a community-contributed map of funder conditions with a concise Funders' Conditions Overview tool drawn from OTT's advisory work. Think tank leaders can use it to prepare budgets, compare funder approaches, and strengthen their own financial systems. We invite you to contribute your own funder conditions to help build the most comprehensive shared resource in the sector. Learn more about our work with think tanks → Support to users of evidence Evidence use in education: Building on OTT's expertise Education is one of the sectors where OTT has done some of its deepest work on evidence use — and it remains an active focus. Our On EdLabs hub brings together years of resources on how policy labs and research organisations can navigate the political and technical challenges of getting evidence into policy: from understanding funder dynamics to working with governments, designing learning agendas, and building sustainable institutions. As we deepen our current work in education, we invite you to explore this body of knowledge — and to get in touch if you are working in this space. Learn more about our work with users of evidence → Events OTT Conference 2026, 19-21 May 2026  | 📍 Rabat, Morocco Join think tank leaders, funders and policy experts from around the world at the 10th edition of the OTT Conference in Rabat, Morocco, hosted in partnership with the Policy Center for the New South. Register your interest → Think2030 Conference, 21 April 2026 | 📍 Brussels This Think2030 Conference, organised under the auspices of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU, is a special one as IEEP marks its 50-year anniversary. It will be an opportunity to reflect on five decades of EU environmental policymaking while looking decisively to the future. Executive & Strategic Leadership Program, 8-9 Sept 2026 |📍 Yaounde, Cameroon Join the Nkafu Policy Institute’s 2026 Executive & Strategic Leadership Program (ESLP) under the theme ‘Managing Think Tanks and Civil Society Organisations.’ School for Thinktankers 2027, 1-5 February 2027 | 📍 Barcelona, Spain Early-bird registrations for the 2027 School are now open. Apply early to get a limited-time discount and secure your spot! News New funding opportunity: Establishing infrastructure hubs to power evidence synthesis in low- and middle-income countries (grants up to £1.9 million) Wellcome Trust will fund five new global infrastructure hubs to enable more timely, relevant and affordable AI-enabled evidence synthesis to address policy-scale challenges. This is part of Wellcome’s first series of Evidence Synthesis Infrastructure Collaborative (ESIC) investments. Application deadline: 7 May 2026. Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) is celebrating their 50 year anniversary at the Think2030 Conference. ECDPM turns 40 this year.  Instituto Mexicano para la Competitividad (IMCO) celebrated 5 years of its Women in the Economy area, created under the direction of Valeria Moy Campos. The African Centre for Development Impact (ACDI) will be officially launched as an independent continental Centre on 23 March 2026 in Accra, Ghana. ACDI aims to advance rigorous evidence generation and strengthen the use of research in African policymaking. Leadership appointments Luciano Laspina will be the new executive director of CIPPEC, taking over from Gala Díaz Langou, who served for 20 years and will be moving on to the International Panel on Social Progress (IPSP), Paris. Eeva Primmer has been appointed as Stockholm Environment Institute’s next Executive Director, beginning 1 May 2026. The Honourable David Bohigian has been appointed as Meridian's next Chief Executive Officer. OTT Jobs board: Featured opportunities Consultant, EU Defence Procurement, Basel Institute on Governance Researcher, African Futures and Innovation, Institute for Security Studies (ISS) Director of Research and Scientific Development, IPAR (Initiative Prospective Agricole et Rurale) Explore OTT’s Jobsboard Copyright (C) 2026 On Think Tanks. All rights reserved. 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