Reconciling Community-Based Versus Evidence-Based Philanthropy

A Case Study of The Colorado Trust’s Early Initiatives

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12981985
AutoresDouglas Easterling (0000-0001-9457-5160, University of Colorado Denver, autor de correspondencia), Deborah S Main (Wake Forest University)
Año2016
Volumen8
Número4
Fecha de publicación2016-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Foundation Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1944-5660 • E-ISSN: 1944-5679
EditorialGrand Valley State University Libraries - DIGITAL COMMONS JOURNALS (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.9707/1944-5660.1329
OpenAlexW2540773433
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas9

One of the dominant tensions in philanthropy involves the question of whether foundations should focus their grantmaking on projects that come from the community versus projects that have a base of scientific evidence. How a foundation answers this question leads to different strategic orientations. This article describes how this tension was expressed and resolved during The Colorado Trust’s early years of initiative-based grantmaking. The community-based philosophy is illustrated through the Colorado Healthy Communities Initiative, while Home Visitation 2000 serves as an exemplar of the evidence-based approach. The Colorado School Health Education Initiative purposefully integrated the two philosophies. The community-based and evidence-based philosophies each have inherent limitations which can be overcome by incorporating the opposing philosophy. This finding is consistent with Barry Johnson’s (1992) Polarity Management model and potentially at odds with the principle of strategic alignment

Focus (optics · Foundation (evidence · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Law · Public Administration · Service-Learning and Community Engagement