Types of Policy Impacts

Whenever a foundation supports a grantee's public policy work, the outcome should be some impact on the way policy is made or administered. There are four major types of policy impacts, three corresponding with levels of government, the fourth pertaining to organizations.

1.  Federal-level impact. When most program officers think of policy, this is probably what comes to mind: a bill pending in Congress or a regulatory ruling from the Internal Revenue Service. Bills and rulings certainly are examples of federal-level policy, but the federal level has more dimensions than the legislative and the regulatory. Federal-level policy is also made and interpreted by the executive and judiciary branches of government, for some policies can be made or undone by executive order and others can be created or overturned by judicial fiat. Policy work at the federal level offers potentially enormous payoffs, for decisions made there truly affect all Americans, as well as millions in other nations. The potential costs, too, are high, in terms of travel, lodging, educational activities, and especially time spent on these tasks.

2.  Statewide impact. Each of the fifty states presents a smaller version of the federal level, with executive, legislative, and judicial branches, along with regulatory agencies. The payoff for work at the state level is not as high, for a legislative victory in Washington affects all fifty states, whereas a legislative victory in Montpelier, for example, affects only one state, and a small one at that. Nonetheless, statewide policy is important for many reasons. It serves as a laboratory for approaches that may be copied by other states or possibly adopted at the federal level. Indeed, if it “plays in Peoria”—and the rest of Illinois—it may well be ready to play at the federal level. Then, too, because foundations live in states just as do corporations, they will frequently attempt to be “good corporate citizens” by supporting initiatives that affect their home state. It is sometimes possible to take lessons learned statewide and move them down to the local level. Fortunately, as compared to those of working with Washington, costs at the state level are generally modest, so the foundation can almost always make its policy dollars go farther. Finally, the process of devolution has increased the power and authority of state-level leaders and thus elevated the significance of statewide policy efforts.

3.  Local impact. Once again, at this level the foundation must deal with an executive (mayor), a legislature (city council), and a judiciary (district and circuit courts). In addition, the local level contains various other layers of government (county, city, township), plus quasi-governmental entities, such as school boards and library districts. Policy work at the local level is generally low cost, but it can be very time intensive and is, of course, localized in its impact. That localized impact, it is true, may be only the starting point, for it is possible for policy to percolate up through networks (such as from a local school district to a regional school district up to the state board of education). Some issues, moreover, must be addressed locally, because the final arbiters of the issues are locally based. Educational issues are a good example; they can be influenced at the federal and state levels but must be decided by local school boards. On the one hand, because of the lower costs and because foundations generally have more clout closer to home than farther away, the local level is where foundations can get lots of policy bang for their buck. On the other hand, dealing with multiple jurisdictions often makes this the most time-intensive of all kinds of policy work.

4.  Organizational impact. Large institutions, such as universities and federated nonprofits, offer a chance to create enormous local, regional, or even national impact through changes in their internal policies. For example, if a project can succeed in persuading a university to alter the way in which it trains teachers, the resulting impact will be felt across the nation in every school where those students go to teach after they have graduated. Similarly, securing a change in policy at one of the larger federations of nonprofits—for example, the YMCA—can have a real impact on the way in which people throughout the country are served locally. Cost, measured in both dollars and time, as well as impact achieved, will vary with the many different types of policy projects possible in this arena. In any case, foundations should not overlook institutional efforts in the mistaken belief that policy work can be done only in a governmental setting.

In all four of these arenas, foundations can help initiate policy (propose ideas never before considered); formulate policy (work with officials to shape the evolution of laws and regulations); assist in the implementation of policy (by monitoring, testing, and reporting on the impact of policies); and revise policy (by suggesting alternatives or improvements to policies already in place). In short, foundations can be effective at any point in the policy process.