Grantee Engagement with Evaluation
At the Foundation, we are committed to learning and evaluation practices that help us understand the impact we are having and how we can be more effective. We seek to incorporate evaluation throughout the life cycle of our work so that we can better learn how to improve in real time. This provides us with opportunities to capitalize on successes, shift our approach when necessary and consider what we might need to change in order to make the largest impact on the problems we are committed to solving.
All grantees participate in our evaluation model, though engagement for a particular grantee may vary depending on the specific project or program areas. We aspire to be clear with grantees about expectations around evaluation at the beginning of their funding and throughout the life of their project. All open funding offers specific eligibility criteria, including Measurable Reach (a count of people you serve) and any evaluation activities associated within that funding.
Grantees may be engaged in evaluation in the following ways:
- All grantees are expected to report data on our Measurable Reach and/or through regular reporting processes.
- Grantees may be asked to provide some additional data as part of their normal reporting process.
- Grantees may be asked to engage in an evaluation study looking across multiple grantees.
- Grantees may be asked to engage in an evaluation study specific to their grant (generally using a third party evaluator).
- Grantees may be asked to participate in other learning activities.
Grantees may be asked to participate in any combination of these activities. The Foundation’s evaluation team then works with grantees to help them understand expectations, answer any questions and provide support throughout the evaluation process. We focus on ensuring that our evaluation practices do not create an undue burden on grantees.
We welcome your questions or feedback about the evaluation process. If you have specific questions about the evaluation model or the evaluation expectations, contact Kelci Price, senior director of Learning and Evaluation at 303-953-7920.