Chapter Twelve

Leveraging Impact

Foundation grants, each and every one, have some impact, somewhere, somehow, on the world in which we live. For the majority of grants, that impact is relatively modest: a few jobs created, several people helped, some social changes for the better, all in a local area. For some grants, the impact is much greater: hundreds of jobs created; thousands of people helped; significant social, systemic, or even public policy changes for the better—impacts that extend statewide, perhaps even across the nation. For a few grants, the impact is truly significant: thousands employed; millions helped; deep and lasting social, systemic, and policy changes; influence that spreads beyond the national to the global arena. Examples of foundation grants that generated huge impact are support of the research leading to the formulation of a vaccine to prevent polio; the development of the Sesame Street television program for children; the creation of the 911 emergency response system; the initiation of the hospice and elderhostel movements; and the widespread development of community colleges across the country.

In some ways, impact is what happens after the project is completed. Foundations no longer fund 911 systems; the impact has occurred with the spread of such systems all over the nation. Of course impact can begin before a project is closed, but in nearly every case, the greater impact is felt after the project has been institutionalized: after the funding and sometimes the governance have been assumed by other entities.

To a great extent, the impact of a grant lies beyond your control, or indeed the control of any person or institution. It depends on many factors, including the actions of the grantee and its partners, the reception given by the public to those actions, and the state of society at any given time. For example, had the Children's Television Workshop attempted to launch Sesame Street in the early 1950s, before there was widespread concern about violence on children's television programs, the Sesame Street idea may well have failed. There are, however, many things you can do to increase or magnify impact. Some can be done before the project is funded, others while the project is active, and still others after the project has been closed.