Foundations and Evaluation : Contexts and Practices for Effective Philanthropy

Rating:
Summary: An excellent resource!
Review: As a nonprofit fundraiser/trainer, I often advise clients and students to include an evaluation component in their grant proposals. Sometimes it is hard to see the value of this expenditure, and nonprofit clients especially tend to see as a diversion of funds from their "real" work. This book goes a long way to answering these questions, for funders and grantees alike. The four short essays by prominent foundation presidents who have embraced evaluation in various ways provide a fascinating peek into foundation executive thinking and action. In particular, the perspective by Hodding Carter III provides a dose of reality and fortitude, in a vibrant writing style that's sure to entertain as well as inform. The first of two sections of chapters addresses foundations as a unique context for evaluation, with several forays into critical issues, including a history of foundations' use of evaluation, challenges in foundations' use of evaluation, foundation-grantee relationships, etc. The second set of chapters is more applied, including practical and non-technical coverage of making judgments about what to evaluate, adapting evaluation to foundations, evaluation for small foundations, evaluative thinking for grantees, appraising program effectiveness evidence, and communicating results to different audiences. All of these chapters should appeal to evaluators and evaluation users alike. Overall, the book is well edited, the writing is non-technical and quite accessible, and the range of topics is exciting. A book like this has been long overdue.