Using Data to Inform Grantmaking Decisions

This piece ran originally in Kaleidoscope: The Prizmah Monthly

The Jim Joseph Foundation is committed to strategic learning and informed decision-making. We have a diverse array of research and evaluation studies that currently shape our approach to investments. This work transcends the conventional role of a mere accountability tool. Instead, we see our learning agenda as a dynamic process that contributes to the strategic growth and effectiveness of our grantmaking. With this perspective, we foster a culture of curiosity and continuous improvement and field-building.

Implementation

Studies in our learning agenda generally fall into one of four categories:

1. Individual grantee evaluations that build the capacity for our grantees to be learning organizations.
2. Cross-portfolio evaluations that examine shared outcomes and synergies across various sets of grantees to identify overarching trends and opportunities.
3. Funder-commissioned research that partners with external experts to delve deeper into specific areas of interest that align with our mission.
4. Grantee-commissioned research that empowers grantees to conduct research, enhances their own understanding, and contributes to a broader knowledge base.

Beyond individual studies, we also invest in the development of talent to ensure a robust, skilled, and diverse research and evaluation pipeline. This is meant to help grow the capability of communal organizations to apply learnings.

Professional Team Learning

For the foundation internally, we look to integrate insights and learnings into our own day-to-day operations, thus modeling being a learning organization. We lean into our First Principles, which include staying curious, centering youth, and being in relationships. We listen for themes and trends and actively question our assumptions. As we pride ourselves on being a relational grantmaker, we regularly preview early research findings with relevant grantee-partners before public dissemination. Program officers prioritize learning in conversations with grantees and with other funders, often asking what program providers are hearing from target audiences, or what adjustments are being made as a result of learning. We also read other research (that we are not funding) and share what we are reading, either with grantees directly or publicly. If necessary for improvement, we are unafraid to pivot to model being a learning organization.

The program team meets regularly to discuss important evaluation findings and shares reports on an internal platform. We continue to support individual evaluation work both with funding and non-grantmaking support.

Interactions with the Board

We keep our board informed of our research by maintaining an internal website of the most widely used and relied on evaluation and research the foundation has commissioned, in addition to individual memos to the board detailing new research findings when warranted. All grant recommendations presented to the board for approval are grounded in data. Based on learnings from past research, in 2023 the board approved new initiatives that focus on early childhood educators, early-and mid-career Jewish professionals, immersive travel to Israel, new modes of rabbinic training, and a convening of communal professionals to discuss the talent pipeline issues facing the field. In other words, research leads to actions.

Read the full piece at Kaleidoscope: The Prizmah Monthly

Stacie Cherner is Director of Learning and Evaluation at the Jim Joseph Foundation