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Data Point: Is Evaluation Resulting in Meaningful Insight for Foundations?

Friday, January 20th, 2012

For our recent State of Foundation Performance Assessment report, we gathered data from 173 CEOs of U.S. foundations with annual grantmaking of at least $5 million on the extent to which they conduct formal evaluations of their programmatic work. The data indicate that evaluation remains an essential component of how foundations approach assessment. More than 90 percent of CEOs report that their foundations conduct formal evaluations of their work, and a majority turns to third parties to conduct that work.

A large majority of CEOs report that formal evaluations have helped their foundations understand the effects of their programmatic work. Yet using evaluation well is not easy: fully 65 percent report that having evaluations result in meaningful insights for the foundation is a challenge.

In terms of resources, how much are foundations putting into evaluation? Most are conducting formal evaluations for half or fewer of their grants. The median spending on formal evaluation is two percent of a grantmaking budget.

 

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To read about current foundation CEOs’ attitudes toward assessment and what foundations are doing to understand their performance, see the report, The State of Foundation Performance Assessment: A Survey of Foundation CEOs written by Ellie Buteau, Ph.D. and Phil Buchanan and published by the Center for Effective Philanthropy.

Ellie Buteau is Vice President – Research at the Center for Effective Philanthropy.

 

 

 

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Data Point: How Can Foundations Help Grantees Secure Funding from Other Sources?

Friday, December 16th, 2011

In a recent data point post, we shared that the most significant factor program staff consider when determining what type of assistance beyond the grant to provide is specific requests from grantees. In our research, program staff also told us that the most frequent assistance beyond the grant request they receive from grantees is help raising money from other sources.

For our survey of 103 program officers at foundations with $100 million or more in assets, we listed a range of ways foundations could assist their grantees in obtaining additional funding from other sources, and asked respondents to select all the ways in which they do so.

The typical foundation provides just 22 percent of its grantees with assistance securing funding from other sources. The most frequent way program staff assist grantees in obtaining additional funding is by suggesting other funders. But, grantees do not rate the impact of this type of assistance much differently than not receiving any suggestions at all. Perhaps this is because most foundation grantees are already well aware of other potential funders.

The typical foundation goes beyond simply suggesting other funders for only 12 percent of its grantees. However, when foundations do more, either by introducing grantees to other funders or attending meetings with other funders, it makes a difference. Grantees rate the impact of this assistance securing funding higher than grantees not receiving these activities.

 

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What is the current state of assistance beyond the grant at large foundations? For a fuller exploration of nonmonetary assistance, see the report More Than Money: Making a Difference with Assistance Beyond the Grant written by Ellie Buteau, Ph.D., Phil Buchanan, Cassie Bolanos, Andrea Brock, and Kelly Chang.

Ellie Buteau is Vice President – Research at the Center for Effective Philanthropy.

 

 

 

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Data Point: What Information are Foundations Using to Assess Their Programmatic Work?

Friday, December 9th, 2011

For our recent State of Foundation Performance Assessment report, we gathered data from 173 CEOs of U.S. foundations with annual grantmaking of at least $5 million on what types of information they use to assess the effectiveness of their foundations’ work – operations, finance, and programmatic. Compared to a similar survey we completed almost a decade ago, it appears that foundation CEOs today are drawing on an increasingly broad array of performance indicators.

In this survey, we listed a range of types of information CEOs may be using to assess the effectiveness of their foundations’ work, and CEOs could select as many as applicable.

On average, CEOs report using seven types of information to understand their foundations’ programmatic effectiveness. Almost all foundations are using anecdotal feedback, written reports from grantees, site visits, and evaluations – either of individual grants, clusters of grants, or program areas.

A minority, however, seek information from their ultimate beneficiaries – the people whose lives foundations are ultimately trying to affect – either through surveys, focus groups, or convenings. When we compare responses of CEOs whose foundations do and do not seek the voices of their ultimate beneficiaries, two important differences emerge: CEOs who report that their foundation does collect beneficiary feedback rate themselves as having 1) a better understanding of the progress their foundation is making against its strategies, and 2) a more accurate understanding of the impact the foundation is having on the communities and fields in which it works.

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To read about current foundation CEOs’ attitudes toward assessment and what foundations are doing to understand their performance, see the report, The State of Foundation Performance Assessment: A Survey of Foundation CEOs written by Ellie Buteau, Ph.D. and Phil Buchanan and published by the Center for Effective Philanthropy.

Ellie Buteau is Vice President – Research at the Center for Effective Philanthropy.

 

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Data Point: Board Materials

Friday, December 2nd, 2011

As we head into December, many foundations are preparing for their end of year board meetings, and hoping that trustees will read and review the materials being prepared. As foundation staff assemble board books, research we conducted several years ago suggests they are likely to send their boards too much material and that much of it will go unread.

Staff do well to focus instead on the materials directly connected to topics of greatest importance to boards – which will support the important discussions that need to happen – culling out the rest.

Our research, presented in a report titled Beyond Compliance: The Trustee Viewpoint on Effective Foundation Governance, is based on survey results from 546 trustees of 53 large private and community foundations in the US, and in-depth interviews with 25 trustees. Among other things, board members were asked to indicate on a scale of 1 (“too little material”) to 7 (“too much material”) the quantity of board materials they receive. Responses to this question were categorized into three groups: “ too little material” (ratings from 1 to 3); “right amount of material” (a rating of 4) ; and “too much material” (ratings from 5 to 7).

Only 1 percent of trustees in our sample indicated that they received too little material, compared to 52 percent who said they received too much. One trustee reported, “We are sent enormous quantities of information. Seven - seven pounds a month. I weighed it once.”

It is not surprising, then, that less than half (48 percent) of trustees reported reading all materials.

Our findings suggest that if materials were more focused on key topics – and perhaps less voluminous – trustees would feel better served.

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For more about the trustee perspective on what it takes to have an effective board, see the report Beyond Compliance: The Trustee Viewpoint on Effective Foundation Governance co-authored by Phil Buchanan, Ellie Buteau, Ph.D., Sarah Di Troia, and Romero Hayman.

Ellie Buteau is Vice President – Research at the Center for Effective Philanthropy.

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Data Point: Why Aren’t Foundation Boards More Involved in Assessing Performance?

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011

One of the key findings from our recent performance assessment study, titled The State of Foundation Performance Assessment: A Survey of Foundation CEOs, is that 70 percent of CEOs want their board members to be more involved in assessment. This finding is consistent with our previous research – a desire for more board involvement is one area where we have seen little change in our surveys over the years. To try to understand why this gap remains, we asked CEOs what stands in the way of greater board involvement in assessing the foundation’s performance.

 

 

One hundred seventy-three CEOs of U.S. foundations with annual grantmaking of at least $5 million responded to our survey. The 70 percent who said they wanted greater board involvement in assessment were asked to consider whether any of the four hurdles listed above hamper their board’s involvement; CEOs could select any or all of these options, as well as present other reasons on their own. They could also answer that “Nothing hampers board’s involvement” in assessment efforts.

Almost 30 percent said an impediment to board involvement is a belief among CEOs that their boards do not have a deep enough understanding of the issue areas the foundation funds. More than 20 percent saw a misalignment between the board and staff about what is possible to understand about the foundation’s impact. Just under 20 percent said the board does not support allocating the necessary resources for useful assessment. Finally, 13 percent believed that the board isn’t more involved because it doesn’t understand the foundation’s goals or strategies.

Yet a third of CEOs who would like their board to be more involved in assessment reported that nothing in particular hampers their board from greater involvement in assessment.

The most common barriers CEOs saw to board involvement in assessment seem to be easily addressable. If boards and CEOs work to make overcoming these hurdles a priority, perhaps we will begin to see more CEO satisfaction with the involvement of their boards in assessment.

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To read about current foundation CEOs’ attitudes toward assessment and what foundations are doing to understand their performance, see the report, The State of Foundation Performance Assessment: A Survey of Foundation CEOs written by Ellie Buteau, Ph.D. and Phil Buchanan and published by the Center for Effective Philanthropy.

Ellie Buteau is Vice President – Research at the Center for Effective Philanthropy.

 

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