Helping grantees focus on impact

How funders provide monitoring and evaluation support: A National Performance Programme report for funders, charities and support providers

Sarah Hedley, Tris Lumley and Hannah Pavey

March 2011, 22 pages

 


How many funders actively help their grantees to monitor and evaluate the work they do? NPC's research has found that it is still rare for funders to offer charities support on measuring impact, despite many of them recognising its importance. Few funders consistenly support their grantees to measure their performance, and one in three never do.

Funders are missing an opportunity. Supporting charities to focus on the impact of their work can help both funders and grantees better understand the difference they are making and build skills in monitoring and evaluation. Helping grantees focus on impact, which is part of the National Performance Progamme, highlights different ways some grantmakers are already offering this support, and suggests how all funders might think through their approach in order to make it as effective as possible.

'There is no one right approach to providing monitoring and evaluation support and no one size fits all solution. But we believe there are a number of questions all funders can ask themselves to make sure their support is as effective as possible. This includes taking into account your aims for the support, the principles or values that guide your approach, as well as practical considerations, such as cost, and the needs of grantees.'
Sarah Hedley, report author

 

Read posts on NPC's blog about funders and results reporting, how not to cut red tape for charities, and whether donors care about impact.


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