April 2014

3 Reasons to Evaluate Your Grantmaking

Knowledge is power, as the saying goes, but I am not sure many foundations fully believe that. In the course of working with foundations across the country, I have made a somewhat surprising discovery: Many foundations grossly underestimate the importance of evaluating impact. This is unfortunate, because evaluation is both enlightening and empowering. In fact, […]

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6 Ways to Engage Your Stakeholders: Let the Key Players Improve Your Program’s Success

Key stakeholders have much to contribute to the decision-making process, and their involvement can dramatically improve the success of any funding program. We’ve identified six ways to engage stakeholders and benefit from their input. First, there are three types of stakeholders: Those most directly impacted by the problem you are trying to solve Those who

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Invest in the Strategic Communications Capacity of Policy Grantees

This is a guest post by Lora Smith, Communications Officer at the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. Public policy discussion has always been a cornerstone of American democracy. Policy change can’t happen without constructive public discourse and influence. Getting to that influence involves persuasive conversations and well-framed messages. Policy advocacy organizations must reach and effectively communicate

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The Power of a Communications Plan: Why You Need One Now, and How to Get It Rolling

One of the most important — yet overlooked and underestimated — actions foundations can take to ensure the success of their grantmaking initiatives is to develop and implement a comprehensive communications plan. Believe me, I know that this is tough to do at the beginning of your grantmaking program, when you’re in the middle of

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Oops, I Forgot to Evaluate! 3 Easy Steps for Retrospectively Evaluating Your Funding Initiative

It’s year five of your five-year funding initiative, and you need to report progress to your board. You’re thinking, “Darn, I wish I had included evaluation planning when we developed this initiative. Now I’d have a better way to show our results.” Sound familiar? Don’t worry; you aren’t alone. Many funders don’t fund or even

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Call for Papers On Philanthropy Consulting

The Foundation Review has issued a Call for Papers for an issue focused on philanthropy consulting. The March 2015 themed issue, co-edited by the National Network of Consultants to Grantmakers,  will explore quality, trends and impact in a significant component of philanthropic practice. Abstracts of up to 250 words are due by May 15, 2014.

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