Grantmaker Self-Assessment

If your grantmaking portfolio has a wide range of programs or initiatives, it is best to focus on one program or initiative when answering these questions.

For the following five questions, please choose the answer that best applies to your situation. If more than one answer applies fully, pick the answer farthest down on the list.

It will take 5 to 10 minutes to complete the assessment.

1. You have selected a set of grantees who:

Operate in isolation from each other in different fields or geographies or with different constituents. They have little to no interaction.

Operate in the same system (e.g., field, geography, constituency) but work independently.

Operate in the same system or in interconnected systems and sometimes work with each other intentionally to understand and influence the system(s).

Have a reputation for being systems thinkers. They continually reflect on the broader ecosystem and successfully work with others to shift the system.

2. Your grantmaking is centered on an issue or field where:

Cause and effect are predictable. You know with a high degree of certainty that if you make an intervention of X, then Y will happen.

Cause and effect can be predicted given sufficient information. You conduct experiments to test hypotheses about what will happen when you make an intervention. Over time, you predict with greater certainty what will happen when you make intervention X.

Cause and effect cannot be predicted, but you can still make assumptions about the future based on cause and effect in the past. You map out how variables interacted in the past to identify cause-and-effect relationships. You use this map to select intervention X with the assumption that Y might change, knowing your assumption might be wrong.

Cause and effect are not predictable, and you cannot make assumptions based on the past. You are constantly testing out ways to influence the system and reflecting how patterns and structures emerge and change iteratively. You do not try to predict the relationship between cause and effect.

3. Your grantmaking strategy is:

Created prior to grantmaking and followed closely.

Created prior to grantmaking and amended as needed.

Articulated at a high level prior to grantmaking and developed based on learning over time.

Emergent through a process that is iterative and experimental, tests many ideas, incorporates reflection time at regular intervals and is focused on learning over time.

4. Your grantmaking strategy is significantly influenced by:

A reminder to pick the answer down on the list if more than one answer applies.

Your colleagues in your organization, including staff and/or board members.

Other grantmakers.

Stakeholders outside of philanthropy who do NOT make specific recommendations or final decisions. This includes people who are directly affected, including grantees, issue experts and decision-makers who would not be eligible for funding, among others.

Stakeholders outside of philanthropy who DO make specific recommendations or final decisions. This includes people who are directly affected, including peers of grantees, among others.

5. Your theory of change aims to:

Deliver or expand a service that alleviates immediate needs around a particular problem (e.g., soup kitchens or species preservation).

Address the root causes of a problem (e.g., increase early childhood education or reduce fossil fuels).

Create an alternative system (e.g., alternative education or local sustainable economies).

Build a movement with many diverse organizations and individuals using multiple strategies simultaneously to change systems and power dynamics at scale (e.g., reproductive justice).