Jun 01, 2018

ScholarWorks@GVSU; The Foundation Review;

In 2015, the Cricket Island Foundation conducted a multimethod assessment of its grantmaking portfolio to examine its impact and inform future decision-making and strategy. The foundation, which supports youth-led social change using a cohort-based model, focuses on emerging and medium-sized organizations and provides capacity-building supports to help organizations achieve greater organizational sustainability. The assessment focused on two of the foundation's three cohorts and found positive trends in five key areas of desired impact: organizational capacity, youth leadership, nonprofit executive leadership, grantee collaboration and learning, and funder policy and practice. The assessment also identified areas for improvement to strengthen future impact, and prompted a review and update of the foundation's ongoing protocols for tracking its progress. This article will explore what was learned from a model of providing long-term capacity-building investments to grassroots organizations, and discuss the ways in which even small foundations can implement meaningful assessment protocols while minimizing data-collection burdens on grantee partners.

Jun 01, 2018

ScholarWorks@GVSU; The Foundation Review;

Funders can play a proactive role in helping to fill the gap between funders' expectations and nonprofits' ability to evaluate grant results. Using a partner-centered design, Johnson & Johnson piloted an evaluation capacity-building initiative that supported eight grantees in strengthening their ability to measure and use findings concerning health-related outcomes, by focusing on key evaluation challenges identified by the grantees. Grantees' approaches to capacity building naturally grouped around the areas of evaluation- framework development, data-systems strengthening, and staff training. Through individualized projects, grantees increased their ability to both do and use evaluation. This article describes the design, implementation, and results of a participatory, nonprofit-partner-centered evaluation capacity- building initiative, and shares learnings from the perspectives of both the corporate funder and the nonprofit participants.

Mar 26, 2018

S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation;

The S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation has a strong commitment to building and scaling organizations capable of continuing to achieve results after the Foundation's sunset in 2020. The Resiliency Guide is an aid for Foundation staff and grantees as they assess an organization's ability to adapt and achieve long-term success in a dynamic context.The Guide begins with a one-page checklist of factors that contribute to organizational resiliency. This checklist caninform conversations and illuminate areas of strength as well as areas that may benefit from additional attention.As a tool for grantmakers, it can help deepen thinking about where, when, and how to invest in capacity building.Plus, conversations with grantees about the dimensions of resiliency can help their organizations prepare foreventual independence from grant funding.

Dec 14, 2017

Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales; New Philanthropy Capital (NPC);

Trusts and foundations are increasingly looking to become agents of social change themselves as well as funders of it—asking themselves whether providing more than direct services might make more of a difference. Two common ways that funders do this are through providing support to help organisations develop their capacity, and by using a funder's influence to advocate for change. Here we focus on the former, looking at organisational development support provided by funders from around the world—exploring the types of support given, the evidence for whether it works, and how funders can approach impact measurement.

Dec 14, 2017

Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales; New Philanthropy Capital (NPC);

Trusts and foundations are increasingly looking to become agents of social change themselves as well as funders of it—asking themselves whether providing more than direct services might make more of a difference. Two common ways that funders do this are through providing support to help organisations develop their capacity, and by using a funder's influence to advocate for change. Here we focus on the latter, looking at influencing practices of funders from around the world—exploring the methods that these take, the evidence for whether it works and how funders can approach impact measurement.

Jun 30, 2017

ScholarWorks@GVSU; The Foundation Review;

A rapidly changing, global sociopolitical environment requires foundations to be nimble in maximizing opportunities to advance their agendas. At the same time, grantmakers are establishing ever more ambitious goals that often require grantees to function at peak capacity. Why, then, have more foundations not assessed their own institutional capacity? This article discusses an assessment of 54 foundations that participated in taking a new tool, developed for funders by TCC Group, to explore five core capacity areas shown to be central to organizational effectiveness. The Foundation Core Capacity Assessment Tool's findings should not be seen as a report card, but rather a data-driven prompt for reflection and collective learning. While a diverse set of funders participated in this assessment, a larger pool will be needed to make broader statements about sectorwide trends. Nonetheless, the preliminary findings shared in this article do offer an unprecedented first look at how foundations are holistically assessing their institutional capacity as part of their efforts to maximize impact at a critical point in history.

Jun 30, 2017

ScholarWorks@GVSU; The Foundation Review;

In 2013, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving began to offer unrestricted general operating support grants in response to grantees' expressed need. The foundation hired Technical Development Corp., a Boston consulting firm, to evaluate the process and implementation. This article shares early indicators of the impact of the new grantmaking approach on both grantees and the foundation. Grantee outcomes include enhanced infrastructure and financial health, continued progress on strategic plan goals, and more creative thinking about programs. Beyond the adoption of a new funding option, the decision led the foundation to modify its overall grantmaking process. The greatest challenge – which appears to be a factor across the sector – has been determining how best to capture the impact of the investment for grantees. Partnering from the outset provided data that helped both the foundation and TDC to assess the benefits of general operating support.

Apr 01, 2017

MIT D-Lab; MIT Practical Impact Alliance; Point K Learning Center;

The Metrics Café from MIT's D-Lab offers a user-friendly, light-hearted take on understanding how metrics can be selected by funders and grantees. The guide likens metrics selection to meal formats, offering case examples and tips on when and how to use the four approaches: Prix Fixe: All grantees report on the same set of standard metrics. À La Carte: Grantees choose from a menu of standard metrics. Made to Order: Funder and grantee work together to come up with a set of metrics. Bring Your Own Lunch: Grantees come with their own metrics.