Strategic Planning for Foundations: Get Clear, Get Real, and Get Better (Post #1)

In the November 2009 issue of the Harvard Business Review, an article entitled “Galvanizing Philanthropy” by Susan Wolf Ditkoff and Susan J. Colby asks all foundation leaders to get clear, get real, and get better at philanthropic investment. This is the FIRST of three posts on the article.

What is the lasting effect of any philanthropic investment? Often it’s hard to tell. This is a stunning and discouraging fact, especially after years of experience with social investment and countless billions of philanthropic dollars spent nationally.  The authors of "Galvanizing Philanthropy" in this month's Harvard Business Review suggest an approach that could strengthen the foundation world’s impact.  They recommend an iterative process that gauges the impact of philanthropic investments.  It starts by asking three questions that help the organization get clear, get real, and get better.

First: How do we define success? (Getting clear)

Use your strategic planning process to define a few “strategic anchors,” namely, what are the people, problems, places, and philosophies that we care about as a foundation. Once the organization is clear on its strategic anchors, the programs, initiatives, and identity of the grantees naturally follow.

The article encourages taking a look at both hard evidence and data (what we know), and then applying the organization’s values to that data (what we care about).  Even at the foundation level, philanthropy is values-driven.

Some useful questions to ask in this process are provided in the article: “How do we believe change happens? What role to we want to play in tackling this issue? Do we prefer market-based approaches, policy-based approaches, or neither?  Do we favor a vibrant field of volunteer led organizations or a few larger, professionally managed ones?”

Needs data first.  Applied organizational values second.  And only then are decisions on grant making clearer.