Defining and Tracking Grant Outcomes

Defining and Tracking Grant Outcomes The Center for What Works Debra B. Natenshon, CEO March 15, 2010

About The Center for What Works Foundations Nonprofits www.whatworks.org

About The Community Foundation www.nlacf.org

Objectives Learn how to increase Foundation Effectiveness Better understand your role in effectiveness Improve communication with grantees Right-size your foundation s expectations Alter the application/monitoring process Explore a successful approach to outcome measurement: Case Study of The Community Foundation of North Louisiana Prepare to act: next steps and practical tools and resources

Foundation Effectiveness Toolkit 1. Introducing Foundation Effectiveness 2. Streamlining the Grantee Process Webinar Modules 3. Presenting a Framework and Language 4. Providing an Action Plan: Steps for Implementation

Foundation Effectiveness Toolkit Phone Consultations X 2 (45 Minutes) Within ONE month In conjunction with a strategic event! Within 3 to 6 months ACCOUNTABILITY

Foundation Effectiveness Toolkit Key Take-Aways: 1. Introducing Foundation Effectiveness Clarity about the types of effectiveness possible and the FET focus on the external results of foundation work 2. Streamlining the Grantee Process More effectively managing the grantee relationship 3. Presenting a Framework and Language Creating common definitions and process for funders and grantees to move toward positive results for clients 4. Providing an Action Plan: Steps for Implementation Laying out solutions and specific tools and resources to attack constraints to effectiveness

FET Advisory Board Sharon Anderson Community Investment Officer Kalamazoo Community Foundation Abbey Banks Director of Donor Engagement East Bay Community Foundation Tim Brostrom Director of Product Innovation Fieldstone Alliance Patricia Campbell Program Officer Rochester Area Community Foundation Loren Gary Associate Director for Leadership Development and Public Affairs Center for Public Leadership Harvard Kennedy School Sidney Hargro Executive Director Community Foundation of South Jersey Lucas Held Communications Director Wallace Foundation Benjamas Siripatra Director Local Development Institute Cynthia Strauss Director Trustees' Philanthropy The Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund Karla Twedt-Ball, MPP Vice President of Programs The Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation Carla Dearing former President and CEO Community Foundations of America Tom Kelly Associate Director, Evaluation The Annie E. Casey Foundation

Foundation Effectiveness The success of our work is measured by a single question: Are people better off now than when we started? President William J. Clinton, Foundation website, What We Do

What is Foundation Effectiveness? ACHIEVING IMPACT Donor Engagement MANAGING OPERATIONS SETTING THE AGENDA Toward a Common Language: Listening to Foundation CEOs and Other Experts Talk About Performance Measurement in Philanthropy. The Center for Effective Philanthropy, 2002.

Is your Organization Effective? Premise: Solve social problems Improve Quality of Life Achieve positive benefits Internal Process External Results Compliance Learning and continuous improvement!

Key Questions to Consider Who do we need to impact to succeed? What do we want to achieve? What does success look like?

About Measurement The Center and for Effectiveness What Works Measurement Framework Make Changes Define Success Start here Communicate Determine Outcomes Learn from What Did NOT Work Attach Key Indicators

Program Logic Model Language Matters Inputs Activities Outputs Outcomes IMPACT Associated Indicators/ Measures/Metrics

Streamlining the Grantee Process

Effectiveness Dependent on your Grantees? Because foundations like ours can only achieve their missions through the work of others, it is important that we have strong and effective partnerships with all our grantees Christine DeVita, President, Wallace Foundation Lessons from the Field, a publication of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, case study No.2, June 2008.

Learn from What Did NOT Work Application Mid-term Report Final Report Make the grant management process an OPPORTUNITY

Creating Opportunities Effective Grant Management: Best Practices Tie impact questions to the success definition Meaningful information only Opportunity Make better future grants Require a standard format Learn from the grantee results Right size expectations for reporting

Right-sizing Expectations most grants are too small, as a proportion of a project or organization budget, for foundations to be able to claim a causal connection between the grant they made and what an organization achieved What is an Effective Foundation? By Phil Buchanan and Kathleen Enright, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 2//8/07

Realistic Outcomes Focus on results that can be tracked and are attributable: Youth food distribution program Increased health (% of nutritious food distributed) X Increased academic performance Workforce development/employment training program Increased job placement X Long-term economic stability/self-sufficiency

Need to Balance reporting requirements with organizational data for improvement; the funding amount with the reporting required; the desire to develop grantee capacity with internal resource limitations; the funder learning process with grantee output.

Toward Continuous Improvement Nonprofits idea of strategy must shift from what the organization plans to do to what it intends to accomplish, especially outcomes that can be measured and for which the organization will be accountable Robert Kaplan, The Balanced Scorecard and Nonprofit Organizations, p 3

Case Study Community Foundation of North Louisiana Dedicated champion in the Executive Director; Solid timing with new website and grant-making process; Determination to find common outcomes for grantees; Commissioned research project to identify best practices for 3 community priority areas; On-going commitment to offering technical assistance and capacitybuilding to nonprofit community to move toward program improvement and results.

Integrating Common Outcomes

Community Counts Report Annual report card on community Entire report can be viewed at: www.nlacf.org/?communityreportcard

Framework for Investment Prioritize strategies in this area Needs in Shreveport- Bossier area Assets to deploy for investment Best practices

Support Applicants and Grantees Nonprofit Effectiveness Toolkit Webinar Modules: Part I: Measuring Success Making it Work for You Part II: Measuring Success Data Collection and Reporting Simplified Phone Consultations elearning Course, Measure What Matters Online Tools Program/Industry-specific resources Taxonomy of common outcomes Outcomes Portal

About The Center for What Works Introducing WhatWorks Outcomes Portal http://portal.whatworks.org/welcome.aspx

Steps to Success 1. Contracted with WhatWorks to offer a 2-part webinar series to all community nonprofits planning to apply for next grant cycle A. Measuring Success: A New Outcome Management Framework B. Measuring Success Part II: Data Collection 2. Scheduled webinars and offered recorded versions to organizations that could not attend 3. Capacity-building assistance to help applicants and grantees set up data collection systems and analyze resulting data for program improvement and reporting

Prior to February - HOMEWORK Review WhatWorks Outcome Portal tools: http://portal.whatworks.org/welcome.aspx Find relevant outcomes and indicators for your program using the Outcomes Framework Browser Use the Impact Measurement Generator to develop a shared framework for your programs. Print final version Discuss with senior staff, board and any other key stakeholders Gain buy-in from line staff

February Webinar OBJECTIVES Introduce data collection methods Discuss setting/managing toward targets Explore communication plan Discuss new grant application and reporting requirements Envision a cultural shift Track data and trends Analyze what works and change what doesn t!

What did the Community Think? By the Numbers Overwhelmingly positive response 69 organizations participated in live webinar 28 organizations viewed taped version 59 completed evaluations 56 respondents (95%) highly likely to recommend this product to a colleague

Select Comments: What did the Community Think? This is an exceptional product - the best I have seen. We attempt to measure the impact on the lives of people who find their way to our organization. We do well in some situations and not so well in others. I believe using this system will improve our performance in all situations. Our key line staff participated in this webinar and we are all 100% in support of this initiative and ready to implement. It was very helpful and breaks down the concept of outcome measurement into an easily understandable method. Practical, logical, succinct, integrated into current business practices, and provides a uniformed presentation and assessed outcomes for stakeholders. This has been very helpful to me in understanding and really changing my mindset. Thank you. The information received was invaluable not simply for the upcoming grant application with the Community Foundation, but for all funders an organization wishes to apply to. The information is so relevant to setting attainable, time and quantifiable objectives/outcomes for your organization. I think it also helps with overall strategic planning and program functioning. Excellent venue for this type of training and very well delivered.

Next Steps

Gain Buy-in What gets measured, gets done. If you don t measure results, you can t tell success from failure. If you can t recognize failure, you can t correct it. If you can t see success, you can t reward it. If you can t see success, you can t learn from it. From Reinventing Government, By David Osborne and Ted Gaebler

Support your Grantees Issue Your foundation is considering requiring grantees to report on their outcomes, but you're not quite sure how to guide them to do it well. Solution Create a culture of open communication. Use clear, consistent, and reasonable language to describe your expectations Offer tools and/or training to support their efforts.

Support your Grantees Issue Your foundation has been requiring outcomes, theories of change or key goals and indicators, but you wish you could better utilize the information once received. Solution Implement a more efficient application and reporting process. Offer resources to build measurement capacity as part of application process. Set common definitions. Require common outcomes/indicators that can be tracked.

Develop Mutual Learning Opportunities Convene nonprofits to discuss Consider collaborating with other foundations in geographic area or issue-area Implement a common grant application

Start Somewhere! The point: data are the new platform for change. They will continue to fundamentally alter how philanthropic capital flows. Embrace New Technology Excepts from Lucy Bernholtz in Philanthropy 2173 (12.7.09) Common Learning Databases: Implement online applications Build community knowledge Common Profile (IS/BBB/GS) Outcomes and Effective Practices Portal (UI/ETO) Nonprofit Community Platform (NCCS)

Thank you for Attending! Q&A Visit WhatWorks for further information www.whatworks.org Contact us with any follow-up questions: Debra Natenshon: Debra@WhatWorks.org Liz LaBorde: Laborde@NLACF.org