There is a common misconception about trust-based philanthropy as extending “unconditional trust.” While the approach centers on building trusted relationships with grantees, this does not mean funders should abandon all expectations for mutual accountability and evaluation and learning. Quite the contrary, trust-based philanthropy is about building funder-grantee relationships grounded in power-sharing, transparency and mutual accountability to achieve the greatest impact.
As bi3 has moved from traditional grantmaking to trust-based philanthropy, our commitment to evaluation remains steadfast. Now, however, we recognize that impact can be captured in many various ways. Outcome metrics are indicators of change but do not fully capture the impact of grants. Learning, adaptation and growth are equally important to creating change. (author introduction)