Nonprofit Administration and Management Commons^™

The Missing Link For Maximizing Impact: Foundations Assessing Their Capacity, Melinda Fine, Jared Raynor, Jessica Mowles, Deepti Sood

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 …

Foundations Don’T Know What They’Re Risking, Maya Winkelstein, Shelley Whelpton

The Foundation Review

Critical gaps exist in philanthropy’s definitions of and approach to risk management. This article describes the scope of the problem and a framework for philanthropists to adopt risk-management practices that better equip the sector to address the challenges of our time.

In 2015, the Open Road Alliance surveyed hundreds of funders and grantees to explore questions about risk and contingency funding. The next year, Open Road partnered with Arabella Advisors for a qualitative analysis of existing foundation policies and procedures related to risk. The combined results suggest a need for contingency funding – and a lack among most funders and …

Staying The Course: How A Long-Term Strategic Donor Initiative To Conserve The Amazon Has Yielded Outcomes Of Global Significance, Jared Hardner, R.E. Gullison, Elizabeth O’Neill

The Foundation Review

This article examines how the design principles of a major philanthropic initiative have influenced its performance, and provides a practical example of strategic philanthropy that can contribute to the current debate over the merits and flaws of this approach.

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s $369 million Andes Amazon Initiative, one of the largest private environmental conservation initiatives ever, reflects the values of the Moore family by focusing on conserving important biodiversity and wilderness areas such as the Amazon. “Making a difference” in the context of the Andes-Amazon has required adherence to the foundation’s founders’ principles of investing at sufficient …

Executive Summaries

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Insights From Deploying A Collaborative Process For Funding Systems Change, Alison Mccarthy, Jacob Bornstein, Tiffany Perrin, Jennifer James, Bill Fulton

The Foundation Review

Many foundations are seeking to impact root causes of social issues through funding initiatives that are both technically and socially complicated and where past experience is no guarantee of success. These situations exhibit the growing need for more adaptive funding approaches, such as emergent philanthropy.

This article looks at an application of emergent strategy at the Colorado Health Foundation. It shares tools used to design the funding approach for the foundation’s Creating Healthy Schools initiative, including support for grantees in refining their grant-proposal budgets and activities, decreasing duplication, and leveraging resources more effectively.

This article will look at lessons learned, …

Editorial, Teri Behrens

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

End-Game Evaluation: Building A Legacy Of Learning In A Limited-Life Foundation, Ashleigh Halverstadt, Benjamin Kerman

The Foundation Review

This article shares the emerging hypotheses of two foundations, The Atlantic Philanthropies and the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation — each four years from sunset — about the opportunities and challenges for evaluation in the limited-life context.

Few, if any, of the problems philanthropy seeks to address can be solved within a brief, defined time frame. Limited-life foundations can only strive to move the ball down the field before they sunset, and then enlist others to carry the work forward. Given this reality, these foundations are obligated to make a deliberate effort to share what they have learned with the …

Front Matter

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Editorial, Teri Behrens

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Executive Summaries

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Evaluation At Sunset: Considerations When Evaluating A Program As It Concludes, Blair Beadnell, Holly Carmichael Djang, Jan Vanslyke, Barbara Andersen

The Foundation Review

While the benefits of beginning evaluation efforts at a program’s inception are well known, for a variety of reasons many organizations are unable to do so and instead begin these efforts closer to a program’s conclusion.

Previously reported findings from a sunset evaluation of the Orfalea Foundation’s School Food Initiative showed positive outcomes of the initiative’s activities and provided recommendations for organizations interested in engaging in similar efforts. Because the evaluation was begun as the foundation’s activities were winding down, it required creative design approaches.

This article uses the evaluation of the Orfalea Foundation’s initiative to provide a case example …

Partnership With Government: An Exit Strategy For Philanthropies?, Colin Knox, Padraic Quirk

The Foundation Review

This article is a case study of Atlantic Philanthropies’ work in Northern Ireland, where it supported three thematic intervention areas: aging; children and young people; and reconciliation and human rights. Atlantic, a limited-life foundation that has been making grants since 1982 in eight countries, will close down by 2020 and is engaged in an exit strategy.

Atlantic’s original funding approach involved supporting key nongovernmental organizations to drive and advocate for change; its work helped to support and consolidate the peace process in that country. Its exit strategy has involved a formal partnership arrangement with the Northern Ireland Assembly to take …

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, Barbara Kibbe

The Foundation Review

What do funders leave behind when they exit? What is lost? Are there approaches to exits that are more effective at preserving the results of good work? Through interviews with 19 professionals who have experienced or are currently working through a foundation exit, this article draws on stories of more than a dozen such exits to fill the gaps in what is known about how to exit well.

This article discusses four areas where foundation exits present particular challenges and where there are significant opportunities to improve practice – deciding on and planning to exit, funder leadership, clear communication, and …

Exiting From Large-Scale Initiatives: Lessons And Insights From A National Scan Of Philanthropy, Hanh Cao Yu, Moninder-Mona K. Jhawar, Daniela Berman

The Foundation Review

This article shares insights and lessons from a research project commissioned by The California Endowment in early 2016 to inform the planning for its transition out of Building Healthy Communities, a 10-year, place-based, policy- and systems-change initiative. The goal of the nationwide study, which included literature reviews and interviews with 30 executives and directors from 17 foundations, was to tap into philanthropic leaders’ accumulated wisdom about exiting out of similar initiatives.

In generalizing the study’s findings for the broader philanthropic audience, this article presents a guiding framework for exit and sustainability planning in the form of a set of recommendations …

Exiting Is A Natural Part Of Philanthropy — Learning From It? Not So Much., Debra Joy Perez

The Foundation Review

Commentary

Back Matter

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Changing In Place: The Skillman Foundation, Detroit, And The Good Neighborhoods Initiative -- How Did A Hometown Grantmaker Conduct And Conclude Its Largest-Ever Initiative?, Marie Colombo, Bob Tobin

The Foundation Review

At work where Detroit’s kids live. In 2006, the Skillman Foundation committed $100 million to a decade-long investment in six neighborhoods. (See Figure 1, page 83.) Through this Good Neighborhoods Initiative, the foundation directed a majority of its grantmaking toward an intensive focus on changing the conditions where, at the time, one-third of Detroit’s children lived. The goal was to ensure that children in those places were safe, healthy, welleducated, and prepared for adulthood.

The initiative concluded in 2016, ultimately spanning 11 years and involving $122 million in grants, which represented 67 percent of the Foundation’s total grant spending in …

Full Issue

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

The Legacy Of A Philanthropic Exit: Lessons From The Evaluation Of The Hewlett Foundation’S Nuclear Security Initiative, Anne Gienapp, Jane Reisman, David Shorr, Amy Arbreton

The Foundation Review

As its seven-year Nuclear Security Initiative wound down in late 2014, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation engaged ORS Impact to conduct a summative evaluation. That evaluation yielded insights pertinent to future work on nuclear security and other fields where policy-related investments, strategies, and goals are prioritized, as well as insights regarding Hewlett’s approach to the initiative exit.

During the life of the initiative, significant changes in the geopolitical landscape influenced both the relevance and the expected pace of advancement of its established goals and targets. Rather than focusing on whether identified targets had been achieved in a narrow “success/failure” …

Executive Summaries

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Editorial, Teresa R. Behrens

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Aiming High: Foundation Support For State Advocates Brings Universal Children’S Health Coverage Within Reach, Sheila Dunleavy Hoag, Debra J. Lipson, Victoria Peebles

The Foundation Review

To help close the children’s health insurance coverage gap in the United States, in 2011 the Atlantic Philanthropies created the Kids- Well Campaign. KidsWell’s theory of change posits that if advocates could leverage new funding and coverage opportunities created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, they could expand the number of children with health insurance coverage.

This article presents the major results of the KidsWell evaluation, which found substantial progress in achieving KidsWell interim policy changes and coverage outcomes. But advocates still have a full agenda, which means grantees and funders need to redouble efforts to educate the …

Lessons About Evaluating Health-Coverage Advocacy Across Multiple Campaigns And Foundations, Leslie Foster, Mary Harrington, Sheila Hoag, Debra Lipson

The Foundation Review

This article draws on a dozen years’ experience in evaluating major consumerhealth advocacy initiatives to build the knowledge base about advocacy evaluation. The authors explain how their evaluations were strengthened by articulating a detailed theory of change and emphasizing assessment of interim outcomes from many perspectives and methods.

Even with comprehensive data and integrated analysis, however, some ambiguity in the results is inevitable; there is no completely objective way to determine the effectiveness of an advocacy initiative. Moreover, sometimes solid or even exceptional advocacy efforts do not lead to desired policy outcomes. Advocacy initiatives that fail initially may be groundwork …

Back Matter

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Through The Looking Glass: Foundation Evaluation And Learning And The Quest For Strategic Learning, Suzanne Kennedy Leahy, Sandra Wegmann, Lexi Nolen

The Foundation Review

Strategic learning, a critical if relatively new lens for philanthropy, is neither simple nor efficient to institutionalize or practice yet — foundations are still figuring out how to do it well. In 2015, the Episcopal Health Foundation launched a project to distill lessons about how leading foundations configure evaluation and learning, and how they allocate related responsibilities in support of strategic learning.

This article addresses different models that foundations use to establish and staff evaluation and learning functions, what other organizational considerations they should take into account in order to prioritize strategic-learning work, and what tools and approaches can be …

Full Issue

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Designing Technical-Assistance Programs: Considerations For Funders And Lessons Learned, Jennifer Lyons, Sheila Dunleavy Hoag, Cara Orfield, Sonya Streeter

The Foundation Review

As foundations continue to provide grantees with technical assistance in addition to financial support, it is important to understand what works well, for whom, and in what circumstances. This reflective practice article aims to help funders who have identified a problem amenable to technical assistance to develop a strong program by providing support to a group of organizations addressing similar problems or by providing customized individual support.

Drawing on insights from evaluations of two technical-assistance programs, this article recommends five key issues for funders to consider when offering such a program: whose priorities will shape the agenda, how group composition …

Book Review: American Generosity: Who Gives And Why By Patricia Snell Herzog & Heather E. Price, Jason Franklin

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Laying The Groundwork For A National Impact Investing Marketplace, Stephanie L. Gripne, Joanne Kelley, Kathy Merchant

The Foundation Review

The practice of impact investing is rapidly gaining momentum, but the level of activity among individual and institutional investors, including philanthropists and foundations, has barely penetrated projections of market potential.

The marketplace that should connect impact investors with investees or social ventures does not function effectively.

Developing cost-effective ways to engage new investors and break down barriers to investment is an essential part of growing the industry.

Developing cost-effective ways to “prime the pump” for social ventures to become investor-ready — through a capacity-building process that includes outreach, education, and technical assistance — is an essential part of growing the …