The Value-Added Foundation: Grantees' Views on the Fund's Performance

Executive Vice President's Report from 2002 Annual Report

Foundations can be seen as adding value in four ways: (1) selecting the best grantees; (2) signaling the worth of particular projects and grantees to other funders; (3) improving and enhancing the work of grantees; and (4) advancing the state of knowledge and practice in the foundation's fields. Achieving the objective of adding value requires well-defined strategies: a foundation must choose fields in which it is particularly well equipped to add value; focus on those fields and avoid dilution of effort to peripheral areas; and learn to identify emerging issues and seize windows of opportunity.