Nov 08, 2018

Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP), The;

The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) surveyed private and community foundation leaders regarding what they know about what is and isn't working in their foundations' efforts to achieve their goals. Drawing from 119 survey responses and in-depth interviews with 41 foundation CEOs, the report finds that while the majority of foundation CEOs believe they understand well what is working in their programmatic efforts, more than 40 percent believe their foundation is not investing enough time and money in developing that understanding.

May 01, 2017

Keystone Accountability;

This is a tool for obtaining feedback on a program's perception by various stakeholders (it can be applied at different points along the development value chain, between funders and grantees, and between organizations and their primary constituents). It uses a questionnaire to collect perceptions from organizations' constituents on key aspects of the organizations' performance. The questionnaire is administered simultaneously to a comparable constituency group for a cohort of similar organizations.

Sep 01, 2016

Center for Evaluation Innovation; Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP), The;

For foundations, there are lots of questions to reflect on when thinking about which evaluation practices best align with their strategy, culture, and mission. How much should a foundation invest in evaluation? What can they do to ensure that the information they receive from evaluation is useful to them? With whom should they share what they have learned? Considering these numerous questions in light of benchmarking data about what other foundations are doing can be informative and important. Developed in partnership with the Center for Evaluation Innovation (CEI), Benchmarking Foundation Evaluation Practices is the most comprehensive data collection effort to date on evaluation practices at foundations. The report shares data points and infographics on crucial topics related to evaluation at foundations, such as evaluation staffing and structures, investment in evaluation work, and the usefulness of evaluation information. Findings in the report are based on survey responses from individuals who were either the most senior evaluation or program staff at foundations in the U.S. and Canada giving at least $10 million annually, or members of the Evaluation Roundtable, a network of foundation leaders in evaluation convened by CEI.

Jan 23, 2015

Media Impact Funders;

How are funders evaluating the outcomes of the media productions and campaigns that they support? Over the past five years, this question has informed a growing array of convenings, reports and research initiatives within the philanthropic sector, driving the emergence of a small but increasingly visible field of analysts and producers seeking to both quantify and qualify the impact of public interest media. These examinations have stimulated debate among both funders and grantees. Calls for the creation of a single media impact metric or tool have been met with both curiosity and skepticism. Those in favor of impact analysis cite its strategic usefulness in this moment of myriad new and untested media platforms, the importance of concretely tying mission to outcomes, and the need to justify media investments rather than programmatic ones. Detractors raise concerns about how an excess of evaluation might stifle creativity, needlessly limit funding to those projects whose short-term impact can be conclusively proven, or simply bog grantees down in administrative tasks that require entirely different skills, as well as resources. However, these debates have taken place in somewhat of an information vacuum. To date, the conversation about media impact has been led by a limited group of foundations. Little substantive information is available about how a broader range of funders address questions of evaluation. This research project aims to help fill that gap. The report, Funder Perspectives: Assessing Media Investments explores the multiple and sometimes overlapping lenses through which grantmakers view media evaluation, and confirms that there are still many unanswered questions.

May 01, 2012

Alliance for Justice; Bolder Advocacy;

This tool assesses the organizational capacity and specifically measures the advocacy capacity of a prospective or current grantee. The tool includes 18 indicators divided into four categories: advocacy goals, plans and strategies; conducting advocacy; advocacy avenues; and organizational operations to sustain advocacy. The tool describes capacities to which an organization should aspire if it wants to institutionalize its advocacy work. Sample measures include "the organization has a well written agenda, adopted by its board, that identifies the organization's priorities (such as issue priorities) for legislative and other types of advocacy."

Aug 01, 2011

W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Alliance for Children & Families; United Neighborhood Centers of America;

Civic Engagement Measurement System (CEMS) is a tool in the form of three surveys designed to help nonprofit human service organizations measure the impact of their civic engagement efforts. Participating organizations gain access to automated administration, scoring, and reporting services related to implementing the measurement system. The surveys (starting on p. 22 of the report) contain a measure completed by the organization itself, a measure completed by key informants in the community that are familiar with the work of the organization, and a measure completed by constituents that are served as clients or service recipients by the organization. The CEMS project was released in partnership with United Neighborhood Centers of America, Behavioral Pathway Systems, and Keystone Accountability, and with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Sep 01, 2008

Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers; Foundation Center; Council on Foundations; Association of Small Foundations; Project Streamline; Grants Managers Network; Association of Fundraising Professionals; Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP), The; National Council of Nonprofit Associations; Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO);

This tool is an online survey that generates a comparative report about your grantmaking processes. It enables you to compare these processes to those of other funders, as well as to the principles described in the report, "Drowning in Paperwork, Distracted from Purpose." It will also help you to determine the costs of these processes to both your organization and your grantseekers. Once you have completed the survey, you will be able to download a comparative report that you can use to stimulate discussion within your organization about current processes and opportunities for improvement.

Dec 05, 2007

Annie E. Casey Foundation; Organizational Research Services (ORS);

This is a tool that measures improved policies. It takes the form of a phone survey and can be used over time to see if policies have changed for individual organizations or at a population level. Indicators of improved policies include number of organizations that have adopted policies around a particular issue and/or the number of policies that conform to elements of effective policy. Survey items address 1) whether an organization has officially adopted a policy 2) the elements of the policy 3) how the policy is enforced 4) perceived effectiveness of the policy 5) satisfaction with the policy.