In preparation for the March 2 GCRI Roundtable on Evaluating Program Impact, you may be interested in “Making a Diffence:  Evaluating Your Philanthropy,” a report from The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI), a Boston-based philanthropic advisory firm.  Quoting Mark Twain, “Supposing is good, finding out is better,” TPI posits some basic thoughts about approaching evaluation from a funder’s perspective.  One of the important nuggets is the difference between “monitoring” and “evaluation.”  According to the report, “Monitoring attempts to answer the question, ‘Did the grantee fulfill the agreement?’  Evaluation attempts to answer the question, ‘So what?’ or ‘What is the impact?'”  Another helpful quote is, “Evaluation is learning from your giving.”  How does this reflect and inform your approach to evaluation?  Join us on March 2 to learn more!  To read the full report, click here.

Leave a Reply