Evaluation Serving Community Foundations and Donors

The Importance of Demonstrating to Community Foundation Funders Programs’ Impacts

As donors seek to strengthen and improve the lives of their communities, they are increasingly interested in understanding the effects of their social investments. Consequently, community foundations are now frequently asked to show that the programs and organizations they support are having the effects that donors would like to see. Program evaluations of community foundation-supported programs are an extremely useful way to document the effectiveness of programs. Evaluations can provide critical information about the effects of programs, show donors that their expectations are being met, and provide critical information with which to ensure that critical community needs are being effectively addressed. A recent article in the New Yorker noted, “Measuring the impact of giving is more important to donors aged 21-40 than it was to previous generations.” (New Yorker December, 2013)

Brad Rose Consulting, Inc. has evaluated a wide-range of philanthropic programs, ranging from human services and arts education programs, to youth development and domestic violence prevention programs. We work with foundations to ensure both effective and sensitive program evaluations that show the effects of donor- supported programming. Our evaluations are especially helpful to programs supported by designated funds. While our experience includes working with national-level foundations, our approach to tailored evaluation initiatives is especially geared to helping community-level foundations who are increasingly asked to demonstrate the effectiveness of the programs their donor funds support.

Program Evaluation to Support Planning

Although our evaluations gather data to show the effects of existing programs, our evaluation approach can be very helpful as funders and donors plan for future initiatives. By showing both the achievements and challenges of current programs, our evaluations provide to program planners and funders helpful insight into a variety of program area “best practices”. We also work with foundation grantees to help them develop their own capacities for evaluating the effects of their efforts. By educating grant recipients about the need for, and fundamental elements of, program evaluation, we prepare grantees to better plan and execute programs that demonstrate results.

If you are a community foundation staff member, we would welcome and opportunity to discuss with you the ways that Brad Rose Consulting, Inc. can help you and your grantees to strengthen the programs you support so that they better serve the goals and expectations of your donors. Similarly, if you are an organization that receives foundation support, we would welcome a chance to discuss with you how our program evaluations can help you strengthen your programmatic efforts and help to secure future foundation support. Please feel free to contact me, click here for contact information. Or to learn more about our work with community foundations visit our Community service page.