Giving Compass' Take:

• The Constellation Fund is a new data-driven initiative to fight poverty and modeled after successful efforts in other cities. The main takeaway is the data-driven approach that will be used to measure effectiveness. 

• Metrics are an important part of strategic philanthropy and data can often reveal new information not previously considered. 

• Seattle used data to reform the city's homelessness efforts. Learn more.

Andrew Dayton, the youngest son of Gov. Mark Dayton, has launched a new data-driven philanthropy in the Twin Cities, inspired by innovative efforts to combat poverty in California and New York.

The Constellation Fund will award grants to charities and organizations fighting poverty that show their effectiveness through data and research. It will also help charities measure their program results with cost-benefit analysis and other data tools.

“It’s the idea of the head and the heart,” Andrew Dayton said. “How do you bring all the information, all the smarts that we have in philanthropy and bring that alongside all the great intentions we have as donors and as a community?”

Andrew Dayton said he is modeling the fund after a pair of data-driven philanthropies: Robin Hood in New York City, and Tipping Point Community in San Francisco, where he lived and served as deputy legislative director to former San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee.

In San Francisco, Dayton said he witnessed the growing disparities and rampant homelessness that accompanied the region’s economic growth and worried it was a glimpse into the Twin Cities’ future.

Read the full article about data-driven philanthropy by Shannon Prather at StarTribune.com