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Failing Forward: The Importance of Course Correction in Philanthropy

The Center For Effective Philanthropy Nov 26, 2018
This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
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Giving Compass’ Take:

• This Center for Effective Philanthropy post explores the process of learning from mistakes in philanthropy and making adjustments in implementing programs.

• How can we learn from the example of The David and Lucile Packard Foundation summer learning initiative? One major takeaways is to be flexible, rather than stubbornly sticking to original assumptions.

• Feedback is also essential. Here are ways to truly be listening in philanthropy.


Underlying most grantmakers’ strategies are a set of assumptions that guide implementation. These assumptions are laid out early in the development of the strategy and are based on a combination of current context, data, and hunches about how the work will unfold. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation’s seven-year investment in summer learning was no exception.

Once we began implementing our strategy, however, we learned that while some of our initial assumptions were spot on, others were near misses, and still others were completely off. Yet, we were able to make course corrections that kept it moving forward. Reflecting on this process and the lessons learned from it, here are four “fail forward” corrections:

  • Creating a laser focus on key drivers
  • Tailoring capacity building to the needs of grantees
  • Capitalizing on investments that are decidedly local
  • Shifting to a network model

The primary lesson for us all is two-fold:

1.) Grantmakers should always be aware that strategies can’t (and shouldn’t) be set in stone;  and

2.) Funders’ willingness to listen to grantee partners and shift strategy appropriately will ultimately deliver a greater return on any philanthropic investment.

Read the full article about the importance of course correction by Justina Acevedo-Cross at cep.org.

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Interested in learning more about Impact Philanthropy? Other readers at Giving Compass found the following articles helpful for impact giving related to Impact Philanthropy.

  • This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
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    Strengthening Children’s Math Skills with Enhanced Instruction

    Early math skills are a strong predictor of later achievement for young children, not only in math, but in other domains as well. Exhibiting strong math skills in elementary school is predictive of later high school completion and college attendance. To that end, the Making Pre-K Count and High 5s studies set out to rigorously assess whether providing high-quality math instruction, aligned across prekindergarten (pre-K) and kindergarten, could lead to long-term gains across a variety of domains for students growing up in low-income communities in New York City. Key Findings: Making Pre-K Count: At the end of kindergarten, there was a small, positive, but not consistently statistically significant effect for the Making Pre-K Count program on one of two measures of math skills, a measure that is more sensitive to children’s skill levels than the more global test used in pre-K and kindergarten. Making Pre-K Count led to positive impacts on children’s attitudes toward math at the end of kindergarten and to about two months’ greater growth in kindergartners’ working memory skills. Making Pre-K Count plus High 5s kindergarten supplement: Two years of aligned, enhanced math experiences led to positive impacts on the more sensitive measure of children’s math skills, both above and beyond Making Pre-K Count alone (equivalent to 2.5 months’ growth) and compared with no math enrichment in pre-K and kindergarten (equivalent to 4.2 months’ growth); effects were positive but not statistically significant on the more global measure. The effect of two years of enhanced math translates into closing more than a quarter of the achievement gap between low-income children and their higher-income peers at the end of kindergarten. Children who were offered two years of math enrichment also had more positive attitudes toward math than children with no enrichment.


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