“I want to make a difference”. This simple statement can easily sum up the motivation of both philanthropic professionals and donors. However, concretely, what does this mean? How can we know if being involved really changes things? When we take a closer look at philanthropic actions, we quickly realize the complexity in measuring its impact. The quantitative measures in place in the corporate world are of no help when applied at the social or community level. It comes to no surprise that donors and professionals are frustrated by the difficulty in determining the relevance and efficiency of their actions. Paradoxically, more and more grant applications require organizations to answer the following question: “How are your actions transformative?” It isn’t easy to quantify the “increased social wellbeing”, “advancement of democracy” or “protection of the rights of vulnerable groups”. Faced with the ordinance to measure their impact, many categories of nonprofits find themselves at a higher risk of being refused grants.
Led by the Quebec Hub, this special edition presents several recent studies on the delicate issue of Evaluating Philanthropy.
- Interview: Cynthia Gélinas of the Youth Travel Foundation, by David Zaragoza Sanchez, Quebec Hub
- Evaluation IN and OF Philanthropy, by Louise Giroux of Philanthropia
- Evidence-Based Policy Making, Policy Evaluation, and Effective Altruism: Considerations for a Research Project on Social Impact Measurement in Atlantic Canada, by Garrett Ward Richards, Atlantic Hub
- Emerging Information and Reporting Issues for Grantmaking Foundations, by François Brouard and Juniper Glass, Ontario and Quebec Hubs
- Moving from Evidence to Action: Tackling the Sector’s Thorniest Issues by Rethinking our Relationships with Data, by Andrew Taylor and Ben Liadsky, published by The Philanthropist
- Report: The State of Evaluation, by Imagine Canada
- Report: Advancing Evaluation Practices in Philanthropy, published by the Stanford Social Innovation Review
- Podcast: Dean Karlan, Co-Founder of ImpactMatters, on Evaluating Nonprofits and Impact, by The Generosity Freakshow
- Video: Evaluation and measuring social impact – Issues and opportunities, by TIESS
Newsletter March 2020: Evaluating Philanthropy
Special Edition: Evaluating Philanthropy