Knowledge Items
for Private Foundations

Collective Impact

Mark Kramer, John Kania

Large-scale social change requires broad cross-sector coordination, yet the social sector remains focused on the isolated intervention of individual organizations.

Article

Video

Event

Evaluating Social Innovation

Hallie Preskill, Tanya Beer

Developmental evaluation offers a new approach to evaluating social innovations in complex, multi-actor, and dynamic environments.

Report

Webinar

Collective Impact for Opportunity Youth

Fay Hanleybrown, Kate Tallant, Adria Steinberg, Mimi Corcoran

This report outlines how a collective impact approach can improve outcomes for Opportunity Youth.

Report

FSG and SSIR Collective Impact Conference

A cross-section of senior-level participants from nonprofits, foundations, corporations, and the government came together to explore the opportunities and challenges of engaging in collective impact initiatives.

Events

What Is Collective Impact?

This series of short videos describes the concept of collective impact, and shows the 5 conditions of collective impact in action using The Elizabeth River Project and The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) as examples.

Video

Channeling Change: Making Collective Impact Work

Fay Hanleybrown, John Kania, Mark Kramer

Despite the difficulty of getting collective impact efforts off the ground, those involved report a new sense of optimism that dawns early on in the process.

Article

Understanding the Value of Backbone Organizations in Collective Impact

Shiloh Turner, Kathy Merchant, John Kania, Ellen Martin

An in-depth review of what it takes to be a backbone organization, and how to evaluate and support its work.

Article

Collective Impact - John Kania

John Kania, Managing Director at FSG talks about Collective Impact.

Video

Practical Guide for Engaging Stakeholders in Developing Evaluation Questions

Hallie Preskill, Nathalie Jones

Engaging stakeholders early on allows organizations to develop measurement processes that are more relevant, credible and useful.

Report

Webinar

Collective Impact Conference Video

This recorded livestream from the Collective Impact Conference on March 23, 2011 hosted by FSG and the Stanford Social Innovation Review is broken out into four sections.

Video

Embracing Emergence: How Collective Impact Addresses Complexity

John Kania, Mark Kramer

Collective impact brings actors together and creates the conditions that enable solutions to complex problems to emerge.

Article

Webinar

Do More Than Give

Leslie Crutchfield, John Kania, Mark Kramer

This book provides a blueprint for foundation leaders, trustees, and individual donors who want to catalyze change in the world.

Book

Video

The Foundation Performance Dashboard: Vital Statistics for Social Impact

Fay Hanleybrown

Foundations are unsure how to bridge the chasm between the readily available and concise metrics for investment performance and the much more complex, expensive, and subjective data from internal operations and program evaluations.

Report

Catalytic Philanthropy

Mark Kramer

Despite vast spending, philanthropists have fallen short. What we need: Catalytic Philanthropy.

Article

Video

Webinar

Blended Learning in Practice:
Case Studies from Leading Schools

Brad Bernatek, Jeffrey Cohen, John Hanlon, Matt Wilka

Five in-depth case studies of blended learning at leading schools across the country.

Report

Video

White House Council for Community Solutions Collective Impact Session

John Kania leads a session on Collective Impact at the White House Council for Community Solutions, February 4, 2011.

Video

Do More Than Give - Leslie Crutchfield

Leslie Crutchfield talks about Do More Than Give, a book on catalytic philanthropy co-written with John Kania and Mark Kramer.

Video

Keeping the Promise of Opportunity

Jeff Cohen, Fay Hanleybrown, Mukta Pandit, Kate Tallant

This report provides recommendations on how to redesign the financial aid system to support post-secondary completion among low-income young adults.

Report

Maximizing Impact: An Integrated Strategy for Grantmaking and Mission Investing in Climate Change

Mark Kramer, Adeeb Mahmud, Serah Makka

Philanthropists can dramatically increase their impact by linking their mission investing approaches with their grantmaking strategies.

Report

Webinar

Presentation

Trustee Evaluation Toolkit

Mark Kramer, Eva Nico, Samantha Nobles-Block

Trustees and foundations need innovative evaluation approaches to make strategic decisions, better plan work, improve implementation and track progress.

Report

Toolkit

Webinar

From Insight to Action: New Directions in Foundation Evaluation

Mark Kramer, Rebecca Graves, Jason Hirschhorn, Leigh Fiske

After a year of research and nearly 100 interviews with foundation leaders and evaluation experts, FSG has released a report that identifies a fundamental transition in the way foundations use evaluation. 

Report

Catalytic Philanthropy Video

Despite spending vast amounts of money, philanthropists have fallen far short of solving America’s most pressing problems.  What we need: Catalytic Philanthropy.

Video

Philanthropy's New Agenda - Creating Value

Michael Porter, Mark Kramer

 If foundations serve only as passive middlemen, as mere conduits for giving, then they fall far short of their potential and of society's expectations of them.

Article

Focusing on What Matters Webinar

Soliciting input from stakeholders early on in the evaluation process results in more successfully involving stakeholders for improving program effectiveness, affecting policy decisions, and instituting behavioral change.

Webinar

Presentation

Case Studies: How Four Community Information Projects Went from Idea to Impact

Amber Johnson Binkley, Carina Wendel, Madeleine Taylor, Hallie Preskill, John Kania

Case studies of local news and information projects supported by community foundations

Report

Knight Foundation Client Video

Mayur Patel, VP of Strategy and Assessment at Knight Foundation, discusses working with FSG on a developmental evaluation of their Community News and Information project.

Video

Compounding Impact: Mission Investing by U.S. Foundations

Sarah Cooch, Mark Kramer

This report provides the first comprehensive analysis of mission investing by 92 U.S. foundations representing $2.3B of mission investments.

Report

Executive Summary

Communicating Education Metrics

Jason Lee, Hallie Preskill, Rebecca Graves

New research highlights eight innovative tools that allow users to communicate social metrics effectively to a wide range of users.

Report

Executive Summary

Evaluating Social Innovation: Insights from the Field

Learn how funders and evaluators have implemented Development Evaluations of complex social innovations.

Webinar

Gaining Perspective:
Lessons Learned From One Foundation’s Exploratory Decade

Veronica Borgonovi, Fay Hanleybrown, Hallie Preskill, David Zapol

Ten years after launching an ambitious strategy, the Northwest Area Foundation asked FSG to identify lessons learned from a decade of community-based work.

Report

Executive Summary

Leading Boldly

Ronald Heifetz, John Kania, Mark Kramer

Foundations can enhance the impact of their traditional approaches to social change by harnessing imaginative and even controversial leadership. This Stanford Social Innovation Review article focuses on how Adaptive Leadership can be applied to complex social challenges.

Article

Aggregating Impact: A Funder's Guide to Mission Investment Intermediaries

Mark Kramer, Sarah Cooch

This guide to mission investment intermediaries highlights the range of intermediaries available and the advantages they offer funders.

Report

Toolkit

Collective Impact: Creating Large Scale Social Change Webinar

John Kania, Mark Kramer

This webinar features John Kania and Mark Kramer of FSG, in conversation with Jeff Edmondson, executive director of the Strive Partnership on the topic of Collective Impact.

Webinar

Presentation

Catalytic Philanthropy In India

Nidhi M. Reddy, Lalitha Vaidyanathan, Katyayani Balasubramanian, Kavitha Gorapalli, Sharad Sharma

This collaborative report from FSG and the Indian School of Business explores how India's largest givers can help solve critical social problems.

Report

Dollars for Degrees: Financial Aid and its Impact on Post-Secondary Degree Completion in Texas

Jeffrey Cohen, Lindsay Fox, Jeff Kutash, Mukta Pandit

This report examines how financial aid is structured and packaged and the specific effects of rising college costs, increasing debt, and the impact of financial aid on degree completion.

Report

Catalytic Philanthropy - A New Approach in Uncertain Times Webinar

Mark Kramer

Mark Kramer, Thomas M. Siebel and Diana Aviv discuss the concept of Catalytic Philanthropy.

Webinar

A Market for Success

Jeff Kutash, Kate Tallant, Matt Wilka, Kevin Connell

This report draws on the perspectives of community college leaders to explore how external service providers can best help colleges improve student completion.

Report

Webinar

2011 Client Project Highlights

Highlights of FSG’s client project work from 2011; social impact projects that range from improving education in Oregon to fighting malaria.

Video

Water Access, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH): U.S. Advocacy Landscape

Mark Kramer, Jennifer Splansky, Jason Lee, Megumi Tsutsui, Matt Wilka

This research summarizes the U.S. advocacy landscape for global access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene, and suggests goals to drive future advocacy.

Report

United Front 2011: The Power of Collective Impact

This video from Twin Cities United Way showcases Collective Impact efforts in Minnesota.

Video

Smarter Programming of the Female Condom

FSG, with Elliot Marseille and James G. Kahn

New research examines how the female condom fits within HIV prevention and makes recommendations for increasing its impact and cost-effectiveness.

Report

The Power of Strategic Mission Investing

Mark Kramer, Sarah Cooch

To foster dramatic change, foundations need a fundamentally different approach to mission investing: making mission investments that complement grantmaking.

Article

Boosting the Immunization Workforce: Lessons from the Merck Vaccine Network - Africa

Leigh Fiske, Amanda Rinderle, Greg Hills

Lessons for the field from ten years of immunization workforce training in Africa.

Report

Champions for Change: Workshop on Leading a Backbone Organization for Collective Impact

Learn about the exchange that took place between collective impact practitioners at the Backbone Workshop in Cincinnati, OH in March 2013.

Video

Do More Than Give at the Boston Foundation Philanthropy Forum

Recorded livestream of the Boston Foundation Philanthropy Forum focused on our book Do More Than Give featuring FSG's Leslie Crutchfield, John Kania and Mark Kramer.

Video

IMPACT: A Practical Guide to Evaluating Community Information Projects

Katelyn Mack, Ellen Martin, Hallie Preskill, John Kania

Four essential steps to collecting useful information about the effectiveness and impact of community-based information and media efforts.

Report

Learning From an Adaptive-Consultative Approach

Srikanth Gopalakrishnan, Hallie Preskill

This article describes a creative relationship between the Ball Foundation and the Rowland Unified School District, based on the concept of “adaptive leadership".

Article

Multiplying Impact through Philanthropic Collaboration

Marc Pfitzer, Mike Stamp

Philanthropic collaboration is essential in order to assemble sufficient assets, expertise and influence to create social impact.

Report

Risk, Return, and Social Impact: Demystifying the Law of Mission Investing by U.S. Foundations

Mark Kramer, Anne Stetson

This guide analyzes the federal and state laws for U.S. foundations and provide recommendations on ways to navigate the laws around mission investments.

Report

Microfinance Strategies Video

Valerie Bockstette shares insights on developing safe banking strategies for the poor.

Video

What Does It Take for Philanthropy to Deliver Results?

Leslie Crutchfield, John Kania, Mark Kramer

Donors large and small often think that they can simply throw money at a problem and hope for the best. Successful giving requires more involvement than that.

Article

California HealthCare Foundation Client Video

Mark Smith, CEO of California HealthCare Foundation, talks about working with FSG to develop the Foundation’s five-year strategic plan.

Video

Why Engage the Public Sector and How?

Greg Hills, Maximilian Martin

This article explores different ways in which foundations can interact with governments in order to achieve social impact.

Article

Readiness for Organizational Learning and Evaluation Instrument (ROLE)

Hallie Preskill

This instrument is designed to help an organization determine its level of readiness for implementing organizational learning and evaluation practices and processes that support it.

Toolkit

Breakthroughs in Shared Measurement Systems Webinar

Mark Kramer

Learn how innovative new performance measurement trends in evaluation are enabling nonprofit organizations to measure their performance with a common system of metrics.

Webinar

Presentation

Promoting Philanthropy in Luxembourg

Marc Pfitzer, Mike Stamp

Financial institutions in Luxembourg have found ways to both improve the philanthropic environment and benefit their business.

Report

Collective Impact in Cartagena

FSG's Laura Herman presents Collective Impact at the Transforming Philanthropy Conference in Cartagena, Colombia.

Video

Maximizing Impact: How Mission Investments and Grants Can Work Together Presentation

Mark Kramer, Adeeb Mahmud

A panel discussion on how some foundations are combining investments and grants to more effectively address difficult social problems.

Presentation

Three Questions for Mark Kramer

FSG's Mark Kramer discusses how strategy, evaluation and a catalytic approach to philanthropy can help foundations become more effective.

Video

Opportunities for Foundation Leadership

Jeff Cohen, Nathalie Jones, Leslie Crutchfield

These three case studies show how community foundations, working to create more informed and engaged communities, contributed to transforming their own institutions.

Report

Developing a Master Data Sharing Agreement: Seeking Student-Level Evidence to Support a Collaborative Community Effort in Education

Neil E. Carlson, Edwin Hernández, Chaná Edmond-Verley, Gustavo Rotondaro, Eleibny Feliz-Santana, Susan Heynig

How the development of a data sharing agreement was key to providing the longitudinal, student-level data required to drive and evaluate multiple efforts to close the achievement gap in an urban neighborhood.

Article

2011 Reports from the Field: Place-based Foundations and the Knight Community Information Challenge

John Kania, Katelyn Mack, Ellen Martin, Marina Pol Longo, Hallie Preskill

This second annual report highlights lessons learned from the Knight Community Information Challenge.

Report

Investing in Change: Funding Collective Impact Efforts

Learn about the unique and critical role of funders in collective impact efforts to achieve large scale social change.

Webinar

Presentation

The Evaluation of Capacity Building Grants

Rebecca Graves, Henry Culbreath

Many foundations now have programs aimed at capacity building for their grantees. FSG's analysis of the Maine Community Foundation (MCF) highlighted three basic lessons that can increase the likelihood of success for any capacity building initiative.

Report

Mobilizing Resources for the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People

Marcie Parkhurst, Amber Johnson

By surfacing approaches to mitigating funding obstacles, this report is a call to action to mobilize funding for LGBT efforts.

Report

Catalyzing Change: Stories from Bold Donors Who Drive Real Results

John Kania and Leslie Crutchfield, coauthors of Do More Than Give, and a panel of leading catalytic philanthropists share stories of their bold journeys to find solutions to key social problems.

Webinar

Presentation

Channeling Change: Making Collective Impact Work

Learn more about implementing collective impact, and hear real stories of collective impact success at this webinar.

Webinar

Presentation

Mixed Motives

Mark Kramer

Any donor's giving has multiple motivations. In this piece, Kramer argues that there are three primary motivational categories of giving and that by establishing budgets for each type and consciously considering one's motivations, donors can improve their impact.

Article

Allocating Resources in a Time of Scarcity

Mark Kramer, John Kania

In tough times foundations should concentrate their giving in those areas in which their expertise, relationships, and grantees create the greatest value.

Article

Managing for Learning and Impact

Stef Steyaert, Mark Hongenaert, Tinne Vandensande, Wouter Van den Berghe, Valerie Bockstette, Marc Pfitzer, Hallie Preskill

Over the past three years, the King Baudouin Foundation has developed a more systematic approach for the evaluation of its projects, which FSG helped codify in the KBF Project Management Guide: ‘Managing for Learning and Impact’.

Report

Philanthropie, die katalysiert

Valerie Bockstette, Direktorin bei FSG, zum Thema Philanthropie, die katalysiert als neuer Ansatz für Stiftungen.

Video

A Brief Guide to the Law of Mission Investing for U.S. Foundations

Mark Kramer, Anne Stetson

Laws governing mission-investing are complex.  These guides analyze U.S. laws for these investments and recommend ways to navigate them.

Report

Catalytic Philanthropy Webinar Presentation

Mark Kramer

Mark Kramer, Tom Siebel (Siebel Foundation) and  Diana Aviv (Independent Sector) explore how catalytic philanthropists will be able to see measurable impact from their efforts and have the potential to change social conditions meaningfully.

Presentation

Making Evaluation Work: Trustee Toolkit Presentation

Mark Kramer, Eva Nico

Mark Kramer and Eva Nico offer tools and tips for more effective grantmaking in this presentation from a webinar hosted by the Form of Regional Associations of Grantmakers.

Presentation

When Success is Only an Intermediate Goal

Kyle Peterson, Laura Herman, Matthew Clark

This article describes FSG’s work with Medicines for Malaria Ventures (MMV), which led to a broadened definition of success, a deepened perspective on MMV’s core mission, and new approach to performance management. 

Report

Aspiring to a Plan - And Acheiving It

Owen Stearns

This article features an interview with Wendy Ault, the Executive Director of the MELMAC Foundation, and in which she talks about the problem they faced and the process FSG and MELMAC went through together to create a strategic plan.

Article

Foundations Don't Understand What it Means to Take Risks

Mark Kramer

Risk isn't necessarily bad. In fact, the goal should not be to eliminate it, but to understand it, mitigate it through grant design where possible, and to match the level of risk taken to the importance of the associated results.

Article

Making Change: Funding Across Sectors and Networks with Powerful Results

In this Philanthropy Northwest member briefing Fay Hanleybrown discusses several success stories of funders working with partners across multiple sectors to maximize their impact.

Video

Gaining Perspective: Lessons Learned From One Foundation’s Exploratory Decade - Executive Summary

Veronica Borgonovi, Fay Hanleybrown, Hallie Preskill, David Zapol

Ten years after launching an ambitious strategy, the Northwest Area Foundation asked FSG to identify lessons learned from a decade of community-based work.

Executive Summary

Report

Collective Impact for Opportunity Youth Webinar

Learn how collective impact can be applied to the unique needs of Opportunity Youth and why a new approach is needed to re-engage this population.

Webinar

Presentation

Report

Mapping Grantee Clusters

Mark Kramer

Foundations can boost impact and sharpen strategy by explicitly mapping clusters of grantees and managing the clusters.

Article

Collective Impact: Embracing Emergence Webinar

This webinar explores how to address complexity in collective impact and create an intentional process that allows for effective solutions.

Webinar

Presentation

Understanding Mexican Culture to Improve the Interview Experience

FSG's Efrain Gutierrez presents a webinar for the American Evaluation Association on understanding Mexican culture to improve the interview experience with Mexicans.

Webinar

Due Diligence Done Well

The guide underlines the value of a streamlined approach to due diligence that balances a grantmaker’s information needs with the added burden on the grantee.

Report

Helping to Prevent a Culture of Inadequacy

Mark Kramer

Foundations often complain about the inefficiency and “lack of scale” that characterize many of the small organizations they support. Yet seldom do they recognize that their own philosophy of giving may be one cause of the problem.

Article

Collective Impact: Implementing Shared Measurement Presentation

Fay Hanleybrown

This presentation was created for the Collective Impact: Implementing Shared Measurement webinar which featured two panelists from successful collective impact initiatives using shared measurement systems.

Presentation

Catalyzing Change: Stories from Bold Donors Who Drive Real Results Presentation

Leslie Crutchfield, John Kania

This presentation was created for the Catalyzing Change: Stories from Bold Donors Who Drive Real Results webinar featuring John Kania and Leslie Crutchfield and a panel of leading catalytic philanthropists.

Presentation

Webinar

Blended Learning Panel at NAPCS 2012

FSG's Matt Wilka moderates a panel on Blended Learning at the National Association of Public Charter Schools 2012 Conference.

Video

Helping a Small Family Foundation Think Big - Rediscovering the Field of Transformational Housing

Mindy Oakley, Owen Stearns

When the Foundation first approached FSG, the Board had little common agreement about its current and future purpose, and no consensus about how to choose a focus or select grantees.

Report

Grantmakers Shouldn't Play with Matches

Mark Kramer

Making a matching grant seems like the easiest way for a foundation to get the most “leverage” from its giving.  However, the leverage, or added value, of a matching grant is often only illusory. 

Article

Channeling Change: Making Collective Impact Work Presentation

This presentation was created for the Channeling Change: Making Collective Impact Work webinar moderated by SSIR editor Eric Nee in conversation with FSG’s John Kania, and the leaders of two organizations that have successfully used the collective impact principles.

Presentation

Social and Economic Equity in U.S. Food and Agriculture Systems

Laura Herman, Amanda Goldberger, Robert Albright

This report focuses on challenges and opportunities for improving social and economic equity in the U.S. food and agriculture system.

Report

The Value of Early Childhood Indicators: Guiding Action Webinar

This webinar focused on the emerging trends in the field of early learning indicators and how these indicators are being used to support the healthy development and achievement of young children.

Webinar

Presentation

Uncommon Partners: The Power of Foundation and Corporation Collaboration

Mark Kramer, Marc Pfitzer, Karin Jestin

With their separate spheres of influence, corporations and foundations are each powerful agents for transforming public policy, promoting transparency and convening influential parties.

Report

Breakthroughs in Shared Measurement and Social Impact - Executive Summary

Mark Kramer, Marcie Parkhurst, Lalitha Vaidyanathan

To achieve the dramatic results necessary to solve today's largest social challenges, coordinated evaluation approaches involving multiple stakeholders are required.

Executive Summary

A Market for Success: How a Robust Service Provider Market Can Help Community Colleges Deliver Success

This webinar featured community college leaders and experts discussing highlights of the FSG report on what community colleges most need to improve student success rates.

Presentation

Mark Kramer at the United Front 2011 Power of Collective Impact Conference

Mark Kramer's keynote presentation on Collective Impact at the United Front conference in St. Paul, MN on October 6, 2011.

Video

When Is a Seed Grant Not a Seed Grant?

Mark Kramer

Donors should not reflexively reject providing operating support to grantees. By providing operating funds to well-run nonprofits, foundations help put ideas and research into
practice.

Article

Compounding Impact: Mission Investing by U.S. Foundations - Executive Summary

Sarah Cooch, Mark Kramer

This report provides the first comprehensive analysis of mission investing by 92 U.S. foundations representing $2.3B of mission investments.

Executive Summary

Evaluation of UN Women's Work on Gender Responsive Budgeting in India

Lalitha Vaidyanathan, Veronica Borgonovi, Akanksha Thakore, Katya Balasubramanian, Malika Anand

Mixed-methods evaluation of UN Women’s Gender-Responsive Budgeting work in India from 2001-2011.

Report

Canaliser le changement: Comment réussir l’impact collectif

Fay Hanleybrown, John Kania, Mark Kramer

Cet article fait suite à l’article initial de FSG paru dans le numéro Hiver 2011 de la Stanford Social Innovation Review. Il explore de nouveaux exemples d’impact collectif tout en donnant des conseils pratiques pour ceux cherchant à initier ou mener une telle initiative.

Article

Focusing on What Matters Presentation

This presentation was created for the Focusing on What Matters webinar which brought to life the step-by-step stakeholder engagement process described in A Practical Guide for Engaging Stakeholders in Developing Evaluation Questions.

Presentation

Webinar

Catalyzing the New Mobility in Cities

Benjamin de la Peña, Robert Albright

This report focuses on innovative business and service models that are beneficial to the urban poor, both as users and providers of urban transportation.

Report

Coming Together to Give Schools a Boost

David Bornstein

David Bornstein explores how the collective impact strategy of creating alliances of civic and business leaders is being applied to social problems across the nation.

Article

Encauzamiento del cambio: cómo lograr que el impacto colectivo funcione

Fay Hanleybrown, John Kania, Mark Kramer

A pesar de la dificultad para lograr que los esfuerzos de impacto colectivo levanten vuelo, los involucrados informan una renovada sensación de optimismo que surge en las primeras etapas del proceso.

Article

Investing in Change: Funding Collective Impact Efforts Presentation

This presentation was prepared for the Investing in Change: Funding Collective Impact Efforts webinar which focused on the unique and critical role of funders in collective impact efforts to achieve large scale social change.

Presentation

A Multidisciplinary Model of Evaluation Capacity Building

Hallie Preskill, Shanelle Boyle

A framework for designing and implementing evaluation capacity building activities is provided.

Article

Collective Impact for Opportunity Youth Presentation

The presentation was created for the Collective Impact for Opportunity Youth Webinar which explored how collective impact can be applied to address the unique needs of Opportunity Youth and why a new approach is needed to re-engage this population.

Presentation

Webinar

Do More Than Give

Leslie Crutchfield

This podcast features Leslie Crutchfield in conversation with Chicke Fitzgerald about how high-impact donors can catalyze change in the world on this Rock the World Enterprises radio blog.

Podcast

Evaluating Social Innovation: Insights from the Field Presentation

This presentation was created for the Evaluating Social Innovation: Insights from the Field webinar.

Presentation