Giving Compass' Take:

• Kris Putnam-Walkerly shares three conditions that funders should ensure are in place in order to achieve impactful philanthropy. 

• Are these conditions present in your philanthropy? 

• Learn more about high-impact philanthropy. 

If you want to achieve dramatic impact in philanthropy you need to know where you’re going, you need to get there, and you need to know if and when to change direction or find better routes along the way. Here are three conditions to remember:

Strategy formulation. Simply put, if you don’t know where you are going you’ll never get there. Formulating your strategy means identifying your desired future – what kind of change do you want to see in the world or what kind of organization do you want to become? Having a strategy is helpful because it provides a framework that allows you to make smart decisions and choices, such as how you allocate your time and what you fund.

Strategy implementation. There is no point in having a brilliant strategy if your team isn’t implementing it quickly. You’d be surprised at how often strategy fails in implementation. Successful implementation is all about determining priorities, assigning accountabilities, and aligning your people and systems. Learn more about 10 steps to rapidly implement your strategy.

Continuous learning. None of this matters if you aren’t learning from your strategy and making course corrections along the way. Let me give you an example. When the David and Lucile Packard Foundation convened its grantees to understand why its summer learning initiative wasn’t gaining the traction they anticipated, they realized that they needed school district superintendents to serve as summer learning champions throughout California. So they began engaging superintendents as advocates, practitioners, and supporters. The results quickly improved.

Read the full article about conditions for impactful philanthropy by Kris Putnam-Walkerly at Putnam Consulting Group.