This report was commissioned by the Co-op Foundation, seeking to address the research question: How do funders monitor and assess the impact of unrestricted grants, and what successes and challenges have they encountered?
The Co-op Foundation is committed to making more long-term unrestricted grants and wanted to understand how other similar funders approached the question of assessing the impact of such grants to learn from this. Recognising that funder practice in this area was still embryonic and that there were few conceptual frameworks available to guide practice, the Co-op Foundation wanted to share this report in its entirety to help other funders grappling with the same issue.
This report includes findings about the variety of different approaches funders used to assess the impact of unrestricted funding, the key benefits and challenges encountered, and suggestions to improve funder practice. Reflections were drawn from this study in addition to other IVAR research, and the wider experience of both funded organisations and the Open and Trusting community of funders.
