Foundations have a responsibility to the public. After all, public taxes subsidize foundations’ tax-exempt status. Thus, it is altogether appropriate that the public expect grantmakers to prove their effectiveness. The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy believes (and I second) that “regulation of grantmaking institutions is essential.” NCRP recently published its report titled "Criteria for Philanthropy at Its Best: Benchmarks to Assess and Enhance Grantmaker Impact." Their criteria fall into four categories – Values, Effectiveness, Ethics, and Commitment – and intend to help foundations measure whether they are ethical and maximizing their impact. Below are the criteria that I found particularly interesting:
1. Provides at least 50% of its grant dollars for general operating support [How long have nonprofits been clamoring for this?]
2. Ensures that the time to apply for and report on the grant is commensurate with grant size [Amen. Let’s cut out the superfluity of current grant requirements and ask of grantees only what is truly useful.]
3. Pays out at least 6% of its assets annually in grants [Ah, the long-lived debate…kudos to NCRP for pushing the envelope on this.]
Click here to read the full report: http://www.ncrp.org/files/paib-fulldoc_lowres.pdf