A Lesson in Responsive Grantmaking

Recognizing the need to support young people during a pandemic-induced economic downturn, Schultz Family Foundation, along with Serve Washington, a state commission that coordinates service efforts, developed the WA COVID Response Corps, a first-of-its-kind program combining resources from federal and state government with private philanthropy.  The initiative was led by four organizations with locations in 70+ communities across the state. 

The Schultz Family Foundation and Serve Washington wanted to track impact across the grantees and the sites to better understand how the program was addressing the core problems it was designed to combat (food insecurity and youth unemployment). Grantees in the program were given access to a survey tool within the UpMetrics platform to collect data that would help the Foundation track the progress that was being made in the field, and help identify areas of improvement to achieve desired impact. This approach also allowed the Foundation and the grantees to streamline reporting and share meaningful data to address challenges in real time.