GRANTMAKING:
Creating Projects Responsive to Family and Philanthropic Goals
The leadership of a 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.
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.
