Download Measurement Drives Strategy: A Guide to Outcomes-Based Strategic Planning and Program Design

A pair of studies conducted the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy shows the incredible impact which can be generated through advocacy and policy work. The studies, part of the Grantmaking for Community Impact Project and described here by Philanthropy Journal's Todd Cohen found that "Thirteen groups that work with underrepresented constituencies in North Carolina received $20.4 million from 2003 through 2007 to support advocacy and community organizing, an investment that generated benefits worth over $1.8 billion."  As Cohen points out, that's $89 in benefits for every $1 invested.  In New Mexico, the figure was nearly twice that.

I've yet to come across a grant making organization with too much money and not enough potential grantees.  Rather, the organization's challenge is in figuring out how to maximize the impact of their grantmaking.  Doing this requires a process for both estimating and valuing the impact of each and every grant.  Unfortunately, grants come in every shape, size, and color.  Creating a common lens to facilitate this analysis is no easy task.  But the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has summarized some of the best methods of doing just this, in practice by top nonprofits and foundations today.