First Posting from John
While the need to better evaluate programs has been trumpeted loudly for some time now, increasingly there appears to be some push back on the drive (stampede?) to measure results. One promising indicator is Drowning in Data, by Alana Snibbe, in the latest Stanford Social Innovation Review. Snibbe provides a useful overview of a complex issue and offers good insights into what funders and grantees should really be paying attention to in terms of assessing what they’re doing.
Snibbe’s raises one point I’ve been thinking more and more about -- namely, the need for foundations to evaluate themselves. In short, evaluation should be a two-way conversation in which grantees and funders explore together what they’re learning and how they might improve. Or as Snibe puts it, the trick is using evaluation to “create cultures of inquiry” in both foundations and nonprofits. And the trick to doing that is building relationships where people are able to authentically share what’s working – and what’s not. We’ve been doing that informally at TWI, but I’ve been wondering how to be more intentional about documenting and sharing what’s being learned. I guess that’s one reason for this blog!
Anyway, Snibbe’s recommendations put me in mind of another article I’d read recently by Harrell and Culbertson, Size Matters, on the Philanthropy Roundtable site.
They find that “most foundations do not ask grantees for feedback about key areas of their operations that influence their relationships.” In particular, they fault large foundations (assets over $100 million) for this lack. They close by saying “The question that large foundations should be asking is: How can we retain the advantages of size (for instance in fund management, capacity building, durability, or research) while cultivating the strengths of a smaller organization (such as flexibility, close relationships, and expeditious decisions)? Why not ask your grantees?”
Why not ask your grantees? It’s a great question and one that can’t be asked often enough in the philanthropic world about all sorts of things.