A Look Inside: How we Selected Grants for Arts’ Exploring Engagement Fund
Submitted by Steve on July 16, 2013
Rick Noguchi offers an explainer on the process that The James Irvine Foundation follows in grant selection for one arts program:
One of the common criticisms that foundations hear from grantseekers is that we aren’t always clear about how we make decisions about grants. It can be frustrating for a grant-seeking organization to try to understand why they did not receive a grant, while similar organizations did. Foundation funding can be a critical source of income, particularly in the arts, so it’s understandable that arts nonprofits want better insight into our decision-making processes. With that in mind, I would like to share some thoughts about grant decisions we made for one of our funds in the Arts Program here at Irvine, the Exploring Engagement Fund for Large Organizations (EEFLO).
While each of our funds has unique considerations, these insights will give you a sense of how we make grant decisions regardless of the particular fund.