Assessing Advocacy Grantmaking: a Case Study of the Sheltering Arms Foundation

Abstract

University of Minnesota Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs students Julia Zhu, Robin Smothers and Siarhei Lisichonak worked with Sheltering Arms Foundation to assess the organization’s advocacy grantmaking practices and outcomes. After interviewing several of the foundation’s grantees, conducting a survey on similar foundations, reviewing existing literature on advocacy, advocacy grantmaking and advocacy grantmaking evaluation, the group concluded that Sheltering Arms’ advocacy grantmaking strategy could benefit greatly from including a more formalized evaluation in several parts of the grant process.