Measuring Success: How the Robin Hood Foundation Estimates the Impact of Grants
Nov 12, 2007
Categories:
- Description
This tool calculates a benefit/cost ratio for a Robin Hood program, whose goal is to eradicate poverty in New York City. It does so by applying a common measure of success for programs of all types: how much a grant to a program boosts the future earnings (or, more generally, living standards) of poor families above that which they would have earned in the absence of Robin Hood's help. It then divides the estimated earnings boost by the size of Robin Hood's grant. The ratio for each grant measures the value it delivers to poor people per dollar of cost to Robin Hood.
