Giving Compass' Take:

• Peak Insight Journal interviews Maria Mottola, Executive Director of the New York Foundation to learn more about the trajectory of their grant reporting process.

• How has technology contributed to changes in grant reporting? How have foundations had to change based on this? What makes New York Foundation's approach effective?

• Read about alternative approaches to grant reporting and learn about a new perspective to this practice.

The New York Foundation is a steadfast supporter of community organizing and advocacy in New York City.  Its grants support community-initiated solutions to solve local problems, constituents mobilizing for adequate and equitable resources, and groups organizing a collective voice among those whose voices have not been heard.

We spoke with Maria Mottola, who has been the Executive Director of the New York Foundation since 2003.

Describe your approach to grant reporting:

New York Foundation’s approach to reporting is intentionally streamlined. The start-up organizations we support generally receive funding for five years and more established organizations receive support for three years.

Let’s back up and talk about the evolution of your approach. Have you always had such a streamlined and relational reporting practice?

In our early days, a grant was given to an organization “for its good work” – it was all extremely trust-based and relationship-based. At that time, reports were just letters from the grantee about how things were going. And because this was before the days of websites and social media, written reports were often the first you’d heard from the group since making the grant – so we went into the site visit armed with information from the report and that was about it.

So how does reporting work now?

Now, we no longer require a written interim report. Basically, we decided it was our job to pay attention to how groups were doing and communicating about themselves. For us, the site visits are a chance to check in with the grantee and learn more about their capacity needs.

Read the full interview about New York Foundation's grant process by Jessica Bearman and Elizabeth Myrick at PEAK Insight Journal