Weingart Foundation Learning and Assessment Framework

Seven Core Areas of Organizational Effectiveness

The Weingart Foundation has always held learning as a core organizational value. Our Learning and Assessment Framework is designed to comprehensively assess how the Foundation’s Unrestricted Operating Support furthers the organizational effectiveness of our grantees. The basis of this framework comes from and aligns with the Foundation’s goal to improve the capacity and effectiveness of nonprofit organizations working to advance social and economic equity.

The framework is designed to assess how the Foundation’s unrestricted grants contribute to strengthening our grantees’ organizational effectiveness as measured through seven domains. Executive directors from grantee organizations are asked to assess their organization across these seven domains when they complete a Grantee Survey at the end of the grant period (in lieu of a final report), and during a close-out conversation with their Foundation program officer. What we learn through this framework will be used to inform our practices as a grant maker and contribute to learnings for the field.

The seven core areas of organizational effectiveness that the Weingart Foundation has identified are:

• Board Governance & Engagement
• Financial Operations & Management
• Fund Development
• Staff & Infrastructure
• Diversity & Inclusion*
• Organizational Strategy & Adaptability
• Executive Leadership

*Encompasses: Client/Constituent Engagement, Diversity, and Cultural Competence