Foundations Lack Portfolio Visibility

Foundations Lack Portfolio Visibility

Most program officers in philanthropic foundations I talk to can't tell you how their portfolio performed last year.

Not because they aren't paying attention. Because pulling that picture together is genuinely hard to do.

Pulling a portfolio-level picture together requires data collection across dozens of organizations, direct outreach to grantees, and weeks of synthesis. 

A 2023 Center for Evaluation Innovation report found that 45% of foundations report underinvestment in the data and evaluation capacity needed to assess their own grantmaking

When the data isn't there, decisions default to relationship and reputation. Struggling organizations keep getting funded while strong ones stay underbacked. And nobody catches it until it's too late.

Most foundation trustees made their money by watching portfolios closely. They'd never allocate capital in any other context with this little visibility.

The philanthropy sector has accepted this as normal, but it doesn't have to be.

The data to change it already exists, organized, curated, and ready to use. Most foundations just don't know where to look.