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.
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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.