Grantmaking includes three primary components: what, who, and how. As grantmakers, most of us pay attention to what we fund—grantmaking strategy and impact—and who we fund—the grantees we support. But what about how we fund? PEAK Grantmaking contends that grantmakers should pay equal attention to how grants are made , evaluating and continually improving the practices used to make grants.
This resource identifies five core questions that every grantmaking organization should be able to answer about how its grantmaking works. Within each core question, we suggest sub-questions that further define the type of data to collect and provide guidance for how grantmakers might place the answers in context. We also suggest examples of specific data that your organization can collect and track in order to answer the core questions.