Effect V2 3 Winter2008Dube
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Transcript of Effect V2 3 Winter2008Dube
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7/28/2019 Effect V2 3 Winter2008Dube
1/2
12 | Eectwinter 2008 European Foundation Centre | www.efc.be
Research:
the road to greater effectivenessBy Nyegosh Dube, EFC
How can a foundation better understand the social problems it seeks to solve? How can itimprove its grantmaking to make it more effective in solving those problems? How can ithave more impact on public policy? One avenue for achieving these goals is research.
Foun
dations
toolbox
Foundations have been among the
primary funders of research carried out
by universities and other institutions
in natural sciences, medicine, social
sciences and humanities to advance
knowledge, chart social trends and
nd new cures. But this has been the
domain of a relatively limited number ofresearch-focused foundations, such as
the Volkswagen Foundation, Wellcome
Trust, and Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.
For most other foundations, especially
those working on social issues, research
has played a limited role. Yet research
represents an untapped potential that
more foundations could utilise to pursue
their statutory objectives.
In the past ve years a wider range of
trusts and foundations in the UK have
turned to research to achieve their ob-jectives. And so, the boundaries are now
blurring between these and the explicitly
research-oriented foundations, accord-
ing to Rob Williamson, Director of Policy
and Communications at Northern Rock
Foundation. The foundation is using re-
search that it has commissioned to help
tackle domestic violence in northern
England. Its important that when we
invest our funds we do so in a way that
is eective and in order to be eective,
we have to understand the problems
were seeking to tackle, says Williamson.
Were interested in research that informs
policy and practice as opposed to simply
the academic pursuit of knowledge.
Another UK funder, the Joseph Rowntree
Charitable Trust (JRCT), has commissioned
research projects on asylum-seekers in
the West Yorkshire region of England. Like
Northern Rock Foundation, JRCT uses
research ndings as evidence to back
up eorts to inuence policymaking.
As Juliet Prager, Deputy Trust Secretary
at JRCT, puts it: Youve got to make the
case. No politician or local council wants
to hear a moral argument, they want to
hear facts.
Both JRCT and Northern Rock Foundationseek to achieve policy impact by getting
their grantmaking right, and sharing
knowledge with their grantees, as it is
primarily the grantees who are on the
frontlines of advocacy. Were actively
using the lessons from the research
weve been involved in to inform the kind
of grants we make, and to run seminars
for grant recipients and other voluntary
organisations, says Williamson. Similarly,
Prager notes that JRCT makes research
available to its grantees to enable them
to illuminate their own work.
But Williamson stresses that its not only
a question of inuencing policymaking,
but also practice on the ground, and
practice not only of public ocials but
of NGOs as well. In any case, government
policy often changes very slowly, so its
not always about a quick win but about
building up evidence over a longer pe-
riod.
The boundaries between traditionally
research-oriented foundations and oth-
er foundations are also getting fuzzier
through collaboration between the two.
The Volkswagen Foundation, one of Eu-
ropes leading research foundations, has
teamed up in recent years with a variety
of non-research-oriented foundationsto address certain social and political is-
sues, such as migration and integration.
For example, the Volkswagen Founda-
tion and eight other German founda-
tions* have set up a Council of Experts
on Integration and Migration.
We have opened up more and more
to this kind of policy exchange and to
providing research to enable politicians
to make better decisions, explains
Wilhelm Krull, Secretary General of the
Volkswagen Foundation. We are theonly research-based foundation [on the
Council] and the others are joining us
from all kinds of dierent perspectives.
[] This kind of consortium is one
way of linking up social and policy-
oriented foundations with research
funders. Through research, evidence
can be provided on the various
challenges foundations want to tackle.
Julie t Prager, Deputy Trust
Secretary, Joseph RowntreeCharitable Trust RobWilliamson,Directorof
PolicyandCommunications,NorthernRockFoundation(SimonVeit-Wilson)
WilhelmKrull,
SecretaryGeneral,VolkswagenFoundation
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7/28/2019 Effect V2 3 Winter2008Dube
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13 | Eectwinter 2008 European Foundation Centre | www.efc.be
The Volkswagen Foundation is also
partnering with foundations on other
issues such as European foreign and
security policy and education policy
reform.
Once a foundation has decided that
it needs a particular issue researched,
what should it do to ensure that the
research is of high quality and that, once
completed, it has a strong impact? Based
on the experience of their respective
foundations, Krull, Prager and Williamson
suggest a few rules of thumb that others
might wish to follow:
Know your issue and be precise: Make
sure you properly identify the issue and
dene the problem to be researched as
precisely as possible.
Dont reinvent the wheel: Before
embarking on or commissioning research,
rst see if there is existing research on
the particular question youre interested
in. There is an enormous amount of
research already out there. Stop and
think whether you can genuinely add
value by investing in research, advisesWilliamson.
Talk to the experts: If you dont have
the necessary knowledge within your
foundation, try to nd an external
consultant or institution with the required
expertise. It is vital that the research
methodology stand up to scrutiny. This
applies both to research you commission
directly and research supported through
grants.
Consult with others: The biggest
challenge for most foundations is to
identify high-quality, independent
researchers who can provide sound,
empirically-based results. To do
this, consult with others, especially
other foundations who have relevant
experience. Use a platform such as theEFCs European Forum on Philanthropy
and Research Funding, which aims to
facilitate the sharing of experience and
expertise on research.
Collaborate with others: Consider
joining forces with a research foundation
and forming a consortium. All partners
can benet from pooling their
experiences, knowledge and expertise.
Besides the synergies produced this
way, joint ventures will often have
more impact on decision-makers andother major stakeholders than would
a foundation acting on its own. As
Williamson says: Dont always think you
have to go it alone. There are interesting
opportunities for funders to work
together and it might be a more sensible
solution to work with others with more
research expertise.
Get people on board early on: It is
essential to get people representing a
wide range of perspectives involved in
a research project at an early stage. For
example - you could set up an advisorygroup or steering committee with
relevant stakeholders such as: politicians,
public servants, NGOs working in the
eld, researchers, and people from the
target group. This is probably the single
most important step in ensuring that
research will have a positive impact.
Because they were involved in shaping
the research, NGOs were much happier to
use it afterwards in their own campaigns,
says Prager. This is echoed by Krull: Our
experience shows that its important to
make sure [the stakeholders] develop a
sense of ownership.
Have a communication strategy:
Develop a clear plan for how to
disseminate your research ndings.
Getting stakeholders on board at the
development stage helps to create
communication channels that will
make dissemination much easier later
on. For example - JRCT has used high-
prole ambassadors to communicate
the ndings of its research project on
destitute asylum-seekers in Leeds.Also, think about using a variety of
communication tools (e.g. events,
seminars, and websites) and present the
ndings in a way that is accessible for
your target audiences.
Plan for the future: Start thinking at an
early stage about what you expect to get
out of the project and how the ndings
of your research could be used after the
project has been completed. According
to Krull, it is important to ensure an
interactive process with opportunities
for mutual learning and to keep that
interactive process alive, so that it doesnt
simply stop when the research is done.
* Bertelsmann Foundation, Bosch Foundation, Freudenberg Foundation, Hertie Foundation, Krber Foundation, Mercator Foundation, Vodafone Founda-tion, and Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius ZEIT Foundation.
Focusing on researchAn increasing number of foundations are using research as means to pursue a
wide range of dierent objectives in line with their particular priorities. Rep-
resentatives of more than 100 organisations took part in the recent conference
of the European Forum on Philanthropy and Research Funding on Partnerships
in Research, which took place in Milan on 2 December 2008. The Association of
Charitable Foundations will be running a workshop on research issues next April,
and the next EFC Annual Conference in Rome (14-16 May 2009) will also be look-
ing into how research can help foundations tackle poverty.
European Forum on Philanthropy and Research Funding:
www.efc.be/research_forum
For more information please contact Mathieu Cantegreil: