As one of the most comprehensive foundations in Western New York, we are acutely aware that our grants, collaborations, and initiatives have a significant impact throughout the community. Our learning-based approach to evaluation allows us to measure the effects of our work (and the work of our grantees), then use the resulting insights to continually improve our effectiveness.
Evaluation Mission Statement
The John R. Oishei Foundation commits to practicing effective evaluation and learning in service of our broader mission. We use evaluation to guide strategic decision making; to build our own and our grantee’s capacities; and to understand, share, and act on lessons learned.
Key trends and best practices
To develop our evaluation strategy, we studied trends and best practices in philanthropy, and worked with a nationally recognized expert to determine the role of evaluation in achieving our overall strategic goals.
> Evaluation in Philanthropy: Key Trends and Best Practices
Our process: How we reimagined evaluation and learning
The Oishei Foundation is committed to transparency, which is why we are proud to share this report of the challenges and opportunities we faced in evolving our approach to evaluation.
> Reimagining Evaluation and Learning
The Oishei Foundation Evaluation Guide
Our Evaluation Guide describes our vision, strategy, and approach for measurement and evaluation, including our core principles, and our efforts to build a culture of learning. We encourage potential grantees to read this Evaluation Guide before applying for a grant.
> Evaluation Guide
To develop our evaluation strategy, we studied trends and best practices in philanthropy, and worked with a nationally recognized expert to determine the role of evaluation in achieving our overall strategic goals.
Does this sound familiar? Your foundation is committed to evaluation, but it struggles to keep pace with meaningful reporting that drives accountability, learning and impact. Knowledge sharing is a mantra, but staff never has sufficient bandwidth.
At the Oishei Foundation, evaluation and learning efforts are not just the purview of the department of strategy, research, and evaluation. Rather, evaluation and learning is a culture and set of practices that intertwine with every aspect of our work as grantmakers.