In March 2009, NCRP released the Criteria for Philanthropy at Its Best: Benchmarks to Assess and Enhance Grantmaker Impact. The Criteria is the first ever set of measurable guidelines that will help foundations and other institutional grantmakers operate ethically and maximize the impact of their dollars.

It attempts to answer the questions: What differentiates an exemplary foundation from the rest of its peers? What can foundations do to improve its relevance to nonprofits, the economically and socially underserved Americans and society as a whole?

We encourage foundations staff and trustees to use the discussion questions in each chapter and to take the self-assessment test, which is available here.

• Full Criteria for Philanthropy at Its Best
• Executive Summary
• Individual Sections:
  
  Preface

  Chapter 1 - Values
  Chapter 2 - Effectiveness
  Chapter 3 - Ethics
  Chapter 4 - Commitment
  Data Analysis

• Criteria Discussion Questions
• Endorsers
• In a Nutshell
• Press releases
• Order hard copy
• Watch the Release Event
• Top Myths about the Criteria - Busted!

Related Initiatives

Philanthropy's Promise

Philanthropy’s Promise is a project of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) that celebrates funders that apply two high impact strategies in their grantmaking: targeting grant dollars to address the needs of underserved communities, and empowering them by funding advocacy, organizing and civic engagement. Visit www.philanthropyspromise.org to learn more.

High Impact Strategies for Philanthropy

A series of reports that invites grantmakers focusing on specific issues to rethink their funding strategies to generate the greatest impact. The first three reports tackled education, health, and arts and culture. A future report will be available for funders concerned about the environment. Learn more.

Grantmaking for Community Impact Project

Many grantmakers invest in advocacy, organizing and civic engagement as a way to advance their missions and strengthen communities. A sizable number of foundations, however, have not seriously considered these strategies, partly because they have difficulty measuring impact and fully understanding how effective these strategies can be. The Grantmaking for Community Impact Project (GCIP) addresses these concerns by highlighting the positive impact that communities have seen through funder-supported nonpartisan advocacy and organizing through the Strengthening Democracy, Increasing Opportunities report series. Learn more