Background

Evaluation Project Summary
In recognition of our ten-year anniversary in January 2008, we launched a comprehensive evaluation project. As part of this effort, the Foundation engaged Bain & Co. to assist in assessing the following:

To understand the impact the Foundation has had within our core focus areas over the past ten years

To determine how our strategies need to evolve in order to maximize the impact of our grants
To create tools to measure our impact in the future
To identify opportunities for improving our grantmaking process

The grantee perspective was critical to our project, and all of our grantees we invited to participate in an interview or online survey. Overall, 112 grantees across eight focus areas participated in the project surveys and shared critical information on their funding priorities, the impact of the Foundation’s grants on their organizations, how the Foundation meets their needs, and which metrics are most feasible and appropriate for measuring grant impact.

Benchmarking
In addition to internal strategy reviews, our project included numerous external interviews with 21 national and local foundations, nonprofits, and associations. These conversations helped us objectively frame our grantmaking efforts within the broader philanthropic scene and in each of our core focus areas. Through this dialogue, those in the field helped us determine an effective level of evaluation and assessment. Our nonprofit partners provided vital input in their individual abilities to measure results and assess their own effectiveness.