The Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation of Minnesota formed over a year ago to focus specifically on issues here; it is one of three foundations (the other two are focused on Colorado and California) that emerged from the prior Phillips Family Foundation.
The staff and trustees of the Foundation recognized this period of structural change as a great time to examine their community impact. They took the opportunity to develop an approach to evaluation that would support their work and help them continuously learn with grantees.
When designing an evaluation system, we are often balancing expectations with pragmatism with how data will be used. We were struck, and inspired, by the Foundation’s culture of humility and partnership—and how important it was that that culture be reflected in their evaluation. The result was a focus on key principles:
The staff and trustees of the Foundation recognized this period of structural change as a great time to examine their community impact. They took the opportunity to develop an approach to evaluation that would support their work and help them continuously learn with grantees.
When designing an evaluation system, we are often balancing expectations with pragmatism with how data will be used. We were struck, and inspired, by the Foundation’s culture of humility and partnership—and how important it was that that culture be reflected in their evaluation. The result was a focus on key principles:
- The evaluation system should not attempt to oversimplify the identification or attribution of impact
- The evaluation system should help the Foundation know that its funds were responsibly invested and contributing to the Foundation’s larger goals
- Evaluation should be an opportunity to gather new insights and ideas—with the recognition that the Foundation is constantly learning from its grantees
- Knowing that resources are limited, the Foundation wants a system that generates information without undue burden on staff or grantees
