Informed Giving

Princeton Social Capital sets itself apart with its dedicated research and evaluation team. Drawn from every segment of the non-profit sector — funders, practitioners, researchers, evaluators, policy analysts—this team has two overlapping objectives: 1) Support our clients, and 2) Advance the field. We accomplish these objectives in the following ways:

1) Supporting clients

• Understand the Issues
• Consider Approaches
• Organization Evaluation
• Performance Tracking

• Develop the Field of Social Investing
• Break Down Non-Profit/For-Profit Divide
• Track and Help Shape Policy

1. Supporting Our Clients

• Understand the Issues. Donors make good decisions when they understand the issues. From charter schools to refugee protection, we connect donor interests with sophisticated research and analysis. But we don't just copy the report and put it in the mail. Instead, our job is to find the best scholarship in a given field, internalize it, and begin a dialogue with the client which lays out the practical implications of complex social policy trends.
• Consider Approaches. Once an issue area is selected, there are always several possible approaches. Take urban education as an example. Could new research on the implications of the No Child Left Behind Act make the biggest difference? Or would those same resources have a bigger impact at the community-level, perhaps supporting an after school program for children who are at risk of being left behind? Or perhaps there is an investment opportunity, as is often the case in affordable housing, which has a good chance of yielding demonstrable results. PSC clients like options, and so the research and evaluation team explains what's being done and gives clients tools to consider the relative merits of several approaches. PSC also maintains its own databases of social investment opportunities which can be cross-referenced according to issue area, financial return (if applicable), and several other criteria.
• Organizational Evaluation. You know where you want to make a difference, and you think you know how. Now you need to identify the best organizations to carry out your agenda.  Because the best organizations are not always the most well-known organizations, guidance from experts in organizational evaluation and non-profit administration can make a big difference. For example, PSC helps clients decide if a request for proposals would help rationalize the evaluation process, or if soliciting proposals one-by-one would allow for more control. Once there is a pool of grantees to choose from, the research and evaluation team will examine program impact, management structure, and fiscal controls, putting together recommendations tailored to the client's priorities. PSC also encourages site visits and donor participation to give the fullest possible picture.
• Performance Tracking. Evaluation doesn't end when the check is written. At regular intervals and at project completion, well-designed project performance reporting protocols tells donors what's working and what isn't. PSC can help design and manage that process, and simply communicate the results. At the end of the grant cycle, the results of a social investment will be evident, and the donor will have maximized the chances of achieving its social and financial goals.

• Develop the Field of Social Investing. PSC is contributing to this burgeoning field through research and analysis. Can the wide range of activities that are labeled "social investing" really be understood as a coherent field? PSC has formed an alliance with the policy and research non-profit, Policy Development(PD), to help answer this question, analyze trends, and propose some future directions for the social investing movement. The PSC-funded research initiative will consider: regulatory policy, politics, legal issues, ethics, business models, social impact, and industry analyses.
• Break Down Non-Profit/For-Profit Prejudices. While public-private partnerships and innovative cross-sectoral approaches seem to be multiplying, many old prejudices remain remarkably intact. While non-profits may feel threatened by the invocation of market concepts traditionally associated with the corporate sector, many for-profits wonder why non-profits enjoy tax exemption to whom they are being held accountable. And accusations of excess and inefficiency seem to flow in both directions. In the interest of maximizing social impact no matter what, PSC would like to help replace these kinds of prejudices with simple merit-based and sector-blind impact assessments and investment decisions.
• Track and Help Shape Policy. PSC's interaction with donors, its non-profit evaluation activities, and its issue area research are ideal preparation for informing policy discussions affecting the non-profit sector. Public policy affecting philanthropy and social investing should allow for, and even promote, the very best models for social change and good governance. PSC is well positioned to communicate those models. Thorough policy awareness, in turn, is also an asset for donor advising.

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