Giving Compass' Take:

• Here are three ways that foundations are making an impact through meaningful data collection and forward-thinking goal planning. 

• As an individual donor, are you asking the same questions as foundations? Do you know if organizations' goals align with your charitable giving goals? 

• Read about this responsible data sharing conversation guide for funders. 


Forward thinking foundations not only report grant numbers, but also report the impact of those numbers. Collecting and analyzing data that enables you to understand the impact of your grants can seem daunting.

Many organizations fall into the trap of collecting lots of data – but not meaningful data.

There are three actions you can take today to start measuring impact more effectively:

  1. Get Clear About Your Goals
    1. Make sure your goals align with your organization’s founding principles, and with goals that are important to your community. Your goals are going to fall into a few big buckets, as follows:
      1. Overall-Impact Goals are the big picture.
      2. Reporting Goals will help you decide how you want to use the data.
      3. Future-Giving Goals use data to inform your grantmaking, including budget considerations, multi-year grants, and even staffing.
  2.  Budget for Impact Measurement
    1. Designing, implementing and analyzing an impact-oriented philanthropic portfolio takes time. Be prepared to invest in impact measurement. Define what investments make sense for your organization.
  3. Set Your Timeframes 
    1. A Grant timeframe typically requires you to plan for at least a 24-month grant cycle to ensure you capture enough data to inform your choices.
    2. For your Outcomes timeframe, you want to set clear expectations, with timeframes relevant to those expectations.
    3. Your Impact timeframe is the longest.

Use these three goals as an action-oriented exercise to get started measuring impact today. You don’t have to answer all three in the order listed here. Each goal will affect the other, and each goal should serve as the starting point for consistent discussion.

Read the full article about measuring impact by Akeem Favor at PEAK Grantmaking.