Building Community Capacity for Participation in Evaluation: Why It Matters and What Works

This briefing shares five principles for engaging community stakeholders in evaluation planning, data collection and the interpretation and use of findings as part of place-based initiatives. These insights emerged from the shared experiences of grantmakers and evaluation practitioners during the first year of GEO's "Embrace Complexity" Community of Practice -- a group focused on the evaluation of place-based grantmaking

Drowning in Paperwork, Distracted from Purpose: Challenges and Opportunities in Grant Application and Reporting

Are nonprofits drowning in paperwork and distracted from purpose as a result of grantmakers' application and reporting requirements? Do the same practices that grantmakers use to increase effectiveness end up over-burdening both grantmakers and grantseekers—and diminishing their effectiveness? This research report commissioned by Project Streamline addresses these questions by examining current application and reporting practices and their impact on grantmakers and grantseekers alike. In short, we found that the current system creates significant burdens on the time, energy and ultimate effectiveness of nonprofit practitioners

Benchmarking 2010: Trends in Education Philanthropy

Education funders tend to work in a vacuum -- each organization has its own mission and its own grantmaking budget. But given the depth and breadth of challenges to our education systems, these efforts can never achieve real change -- unless we have a collective knowledge base and an ability to align and coordinate funders' work. This report provides data, analysis, best practices and challenges to the field, all geared to increasing the collective impact of education grantmakers, and ultimately to improving education for all learners

Project Streamline: Practices That Matter

Project Streamline has a simple premise: that the cumulative impact of grantmakers' distinct and often laborious application and reporting requirements undermines nonprofit effectiveness, causing grantseekers to devote too much time to seeking funding (often without payoff) and reporting on grants (often without benefit) to the detriment of their mission-based work. The streamlining effort has a correspondingly straightforward goal: to help grantmakers understand and reduce the burden of application and reporting on their nonprofit partners, while still getting the information they need to make good grantmaking decisions. Five years after the research that resulted in Project Streamline's initial report, "Drowning in Paperwork, Distracted from Purpose," and subsequent tools, assessments, and workshops, the leaders and partners of the initiative decided to take stock of progress. They wanted to find out whether the core principles and concrete practices essential to streamlined application and reporting had gained traction in the field of philanthropy. They needed to know more about which application and reporting practices made the biggest difference to nonprofit organizations and grantmakers. And they wanted to chart a path forward with recommendations for where Project Streamline should focus its energies going forwar

The Landscape of Giving Circles/Collective Giving Groups in the U.S.

This research presents an updated understanding of the current landscape of Giving Circles and similar models of collective giving or giving collaboratives in the United States. This research comprises the first of a three-part inquiry, which also looks at research underway related to the impact of participation in GCs on donor giving and civic engagement, and a study of the relationships between GCs and their hosting organizations

The Impact of Giving Together

Giving circles are made up of individuals who pool their resources and then decide together where these should be distributed. They also include social, educational, and engagement components that seem to engage participants in their communities and increase members’ understanding of philanthropy and community issues. This study examines if and how participation in a giving circle has changed members’ behaviorrelated to giving, volunteering, and civic engagement. In addition, we asked if and how participation in a giving circle has changed members’ awareness or knowledge about philanthropy, nonprofit organizations, and community issues. Finally, we wanted to know if and how participation in a giving circle has changed members’ perceptions or attitudes about philanthropy, community issues, citizen, government and nonprofit roles and responsibilities or political and social values. To address these areas, data were gathered through a survey of 341 current and past members of 26 giving circles of various types, sizes, and identity groups across the U.S., as well as a control group of 246 donors and public service graduate students and practitioners; semi-structured interviews with 30 giving circle members and past members from 11 giving circles; and participant observation in four giving circles.Aspen Institute Nonprofit Sector and Philanthropy Program Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University University of Nebraska at Omaha School of Public Administratio

Snapshot: The Impact of Giving Together

Donors in giving circles give more, give more strategically, and are more engaged in their communities, according to a new study by Dr. Angela Eikenberry and Jessica Bearman with research assistance from Melissa Brown, Hao Han, and Courtney Jensen. ever since giving circles—groups of individual donors who pool their money and other resources and decide together where these should be distributed—emerged as a philanthropic trend, we have speculated about their impact. Do donors give more or give differently because they are involved in a giving circle? Do they become more engaged and active in their communities? Are they more politically active? Until now, the evidence of giving circles’ impact on donors was mainly qualitative. Now, this new study examines, in a more comprehensive and quantitative manner, the impact of giving circles on their members’ giving and civic engagement.

The Impact of Giving Together: Giving Circles’ Influence on Members’ Philanthropic and Civic Behaviors, Knowledge and Attitudes

Giving circles are made up of individuals who pool their resources and then decide together where these should be distributed. They also include social, educational, and engagement components that seem to engage participants in their communities and increase members’ understanding of philanthropy and community issues. This study examines if and how participation in a giving circle has changed members’ behavior related to giving, volunteering, and civic engagement. In addition, we asked if and how participation in a giving circle has changed members’ awareness or knowledge about philanthropy, nonprofit organizations, and community issues. Finally, we wanted to know if and how participation in a giving circle has changed members’ perceptions or attitudes about philanthropy, community issues, citizen, government and nonprofit roles and responsibilities or political and social values

Moving Diversity Up the Agenda: Lessons and Next Steps From the Diversity in Philanthropy Project

· The Diversity in Philanthropy Project (DPP) was a three-year, voluntary effort of foundation trustees, senior staff, and executives of philanthropysupport organizations committed to increasing diversity and inclusive practice across organized philanthropy’s boards, staff, grantmaking, contracting, and investing. · DPP had significant achievements, including mobilizing greater commitment among foundation leaders to voluntary action on diversity and enhancing both the knowledge base and data methodologies available for understanding diversity, inclusion, and equity in foundation work. · The initiative also faced its share of challenges, including difficulty assessing the impact on the diversity performance of foundations, slow adoption of recommended principles and practices, and engagement of field stakeholders that was good but not good enough. · DPP yielded lessons that are being applied in the development of an effort to create and implement a sustained diversity strategy for the field involving a broad coalition of leading philanthropy organizations and networks. That five-year initiative in diversity – called “D5” – represents DPP’s most significant outcome

More Giving Together: The Growth and Impact of Giving Circles and Shared Giving

The Forum's report finds that the number of giving circles in existence has more than doubled in the last two years. There are now at least 400 giving circles nationwide -- at least one circle in nearly every state. To examine the growth of giving circles, the Forum surveyed a sampling of 160 circles across the country. Findings include: Nearly 70 percent of giving circles have a host organization that receives members' contributions and disburses donations to the organizations selected by the circle to receive its support. More than half of all hosted circles keep their money in a donor advised fund at their local community foundation. Giving circles give a lot. In 2006 alone, giving circles surveyed donated $13 million for community needs. Giving circle members number in the tens of thousands. Nearly 12,000 people participate in the 160 giving circles surveyed by the Forum. Giving circles are diversifying. While once considered a women's philanthropy phenomenon, nearly half of circles now have male members. The popularity of giving circles is also growing among people of color and in the gay and lesbian community. Giving circles have staying power. Nearly a third of circles surveyed have been through more than five rounds of grantmaking. Regional associations of grantmakers, community foundations and private foundations, among other philanthropic organizations, are lending their support to giving circles by serving as hosts and advisors