Chapter 3: Using Data for Learning: A Funder’s Perspective

Chances are, if you’re reading this book, you value evaluation. However, if you work in a nonprofit or have ever partnered with a nonprofit as an evaluation consultant, you’ve no doubt confronted the tension that exists between measuring what matters to the organization and attending to the interests of stakeholders, including funders. The interests of an organization and its stakeholders do not always align; and even when they do, funder and nonprofit leaders do not always communicate with one another openly and honestly, in ways that foster authentic partnership.

This chapter will challenge some commonly held assumptions about the evaluation priorities of foundations. As staff at the S. D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation, we will reflect on what we’ve learned from working with a national portfolio of youth development organizations. We will share case studies illustrating how we partnered with these organizations to strengthen their ability to learn from data. Finally, acknowledging that many nonprofits do not have access to this kind of philanthropic support, we will offer a few tips for getting started with evaluation, regardless of organizational size or capacity. Throughout, we will integrate insights and advice not only from our experience but also from a survey of more than a dozen other education funders, mostly focused on the out-of-school time (OST) field.