Identification and evaluation of potential recipients of your gift will be driven by your charitable giving strategy, decision-making process and criteria. The level of research you undertake will depend upon both the level of your giving and your objectives. However, even if you do not have time to actively manage your charitable giving portfolio, you will benefit from learning as much as you can about your focus areas. This learning can help you be more critical of the evaluation reports you receive, increase your confidence in your philanthropy, and may even encourage you to take some risks.
As with any investment, it is good practice to know as much as you can about the charity and its field of work when making a contribution. When evaluating a charity, essentially you want to know three things: what it does, how effective it is, and how you can make a difference. Consider the following questions:
- What are the mission and aims of the charity?
- What specific need is the charity addressing and who are its beneficiaries?
- How does it meet this need and what is unique about its approach?
- How does the organisation compare to its competitors?
- What is the calibre and experience of the organisation's leadership?
- What is the financial health of the organisation? What are its existing funding sources? How might this change?
- Are there any organisational or environmental constraints?
- What impact has the charity had and how is this monitored?
- What is the potential for growth and replication?
- What are you being asked to support and why?
- What difference can your gift make to the charity and to the lives of its beneficiaries?
- Is there an opportunity to get personally involved, by contributing your time and expertise?
- Can you leverage your giving with the financial resources and expertise of other funders?
If you are flexible in the way you give, then you can discuss with charities that you are considering for support what their funding needs and priorities are. From the perspective of the charities, all contributions are highly valued.
In defining a decision-making process, consider how you want to be involved in the giving decisions. If you wish to use a formal decision-making process, then you might consider your responses to the following questions:
- What criteria – based on your giving strategy statement – will you use?
- Will you accept unsolicited proposals?
- What information, and in what format, will you request?
- Who will you involve in the decision-making?
- How will you respond to proposals?
- What is your preferred method of contact?
- Are there administrative or regulatory requirements?
If, on the other hand, you prefer to have a more informal process, or if you wish to outsource the decision-making to an adviser, then you will likely want to establish, at a minimum, some giving criteria and a preferred method of contact.
