Results and outcomes are very important to the Cowell Foundation. Because our resources are finite and the needs of communities so great, we want to know that every dollar invested in our grantees will help make a true difference in the lives of the children, families and communities they serve.

In order to meet this goal we hold our grantees—and ourselves —accountable to the highest performance standards.

Cowell’s evaluation process is both rigorous and fair. Program officers work closely with grantees through each and every phase of the grant lifecycle (beginning with the proposal, before a grant is even awarded) to ensure clear and realistic grant deliverables and that appropriate systems are in place to measure success and impact over time.

As the relationship between Cowell and a grantee deepens, our staff works collaboratively with the organization to ensure progress reports including grant deliverables are submitted in an accurate and timely fashion.

Our objective through each stage of this assessment process is guided by one overarching question: Has Cowell helped to make the community a better place for kids to grow up?

Types of Evaluation:

Recognizing that each community we serve is comprised of a complex and interconnected network of individuals and families, organizations and institutions, the Cowell Foundation evaluates its grantmaking on multiple levels simultaneously.

• Grant evaluations are performed to assess progress of each grant based on deliverables and benchmarks mutually agreed to by Cowell and the grant recipient.
• Cluster evaluations are conducted periodically to assess efficacy of multiple Cowell grants across a given program area (i.e. Family Resource Centers, Education, etc.)
• Community evaluations based on our theory of change help us examine a multiplicity of grantee accomplishments and other indicators in a given community (or set of communities) to determine the broad impact of our efforts over time.