Study Says Few Foundations Use Data to Evaluate Themselves

December 10, 2009, Chronicle of Philanthropy - While many foundation officials say their grant-making efforts are achieving success, they rely heavily on anecdotal evidence and often fail to gather data about themselves and their work, according to a new report.

In the survey of 191 foundation executives and officers at 155 grant makers, 76 percent said their organization is effective at “creating impact.” But only 8 percent said they could point to specific data to support such claims.