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GRANTMAKING: Creating Projects Responsive
to Family and Philanthropic Goals
The leadership of a $3 million family foundation, based in
New York but funding nationally, were deeply committed to
civil rights and social justice. While living in the South,
a beloved family employee, Lizzie Mae Clark, completed her
high school equivalency degree, but died suddenly before being
able to pursue her goals for further education. The couple
sought to honor her memory by making it possible for other
women to do what she had aspired to: gain a General Equivalency
Diploma (G.E.D.) and enter college, while both raising a family
and working to support it.
Developing and Monitoring a Program
Philanthropy Advisors approached a New York settlement house
and worked with it to develop a program that provided G.E.D.
and computer classes to women, available on weekends rather
than evenings, thus making it more feasible for working mothers
to attend. The program also offered women assistance in developing
their interview and resume-writing skills, job counseling,
and emergency child-care, enabling mothers to come to class,
even when their child-care arrangements faltered. Philanthropy
Advisors monitored the program closely; after initial successes,
the results proved disappointing. To address this, staff shifted
the program to another community organization with the capacity
– and commitment – to provide necessary extra
assistance and child-care.
Reassessing Both Objectives and Outcomes
The board played an important role in the ongoing program,
attending graduations of participants and, with input from
staff, evaluating program outcomes. Although the program participants
increased each year, the number of those who succeeded in
obtaining their G.E.D.s remained low. Moreover, recent changes
in education and welfare policies were making G.E.D.s, on
the one hand, harder to get and, on the other, less valuable
to have. Therefore, Philanthropy Advisors encouraged the board
to rethink how most appropriately to pursue their goal. Should
they focus on women who had dropped out of high school and
already had children, or on helping poor girls still in school
stay there?
Based on research provided by Philanthropy Advisors, the
board concluded that the most cost-effective use of its limited
dollars was preventive. By supporting a program that encouraged
girls to finish high school and go on to college, the Foundation
would achieve the board’s purpose for more women and
honor their beloved employee by enabling others to live the
dream she had struggled to achieve.
Recognizing that teen pregnancy is the most serious obstacle
preventing girls from completing high school, Philanthropy
Advisors identified a pregnancy prevention program that was
also successful in sending participants – of both genders
– on to higher education. Today, the Foundation supports
this program in honor of Lizzie Mae Clark.
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