Tracking to Success: Increasing Grantmaking Effectiveness

The Duke Endowment is committed to a continuous review of its grants and projects. Projects are assessed for effectiveness, stewardship and alignment with mission. In recent years, evaluation practices have improved with technology, and today every grant that we award is based on a set of clearly defined expectations.

By identifying benchmarks and milestones at the outset of each funded project, grantees are able to track, verify and report their progress, challenges and successes. Our process allows grantees to specify how they will verify their results, and allows us to adjust funding to improve results — ultimately generating more effective change.

Select, more complex projects are the subject of formal evaluation reviews. With help from grantees and expert consultants, we conduct comprehensive, multi-year assessments of outcomes.

Evaluation Reports

Advancing Workplace Wellness

The Duke Endowment Wellness Initiative: Summary of Grant Experiences and Recipient Recommendations(pdf) (December 2000)
Assessing efforts to help hospitals focus on preventive medicine and wellness in the workplace.
Evaluation conducted by The Duke Endowment.

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Creating Standard Measures for Child Advocacy Centers

The Duke Endowment: Child Advocacy Center Evaluation(pdf) (April 2008)
Building the capacity of child advocacy centers to track common outcomes of child well-being.
Evaluation submitted by Veena Pankaj and Shital C. Shah, Innovation Network
Executive Summary(pdf)

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Fostering Community-Campus Partnerships

• Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership: Results from the First Decade(pdf) (March 2008)
  Verifying the outcomes of the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership, an outreach effort connecting Duke University and the surrounding Durham community.
  Evaluation conducted by The Rensselaerville Institute.
• Durham and Duke: An Analysis of Duke University's Estimated Total Annual Economic Impact on the City and County of Durham(pdf) (2006-2007)
  Presenting the Duke University Economic Report, which estimates the impact of the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership to be $3.4 billion for 2006-2007.
  Evaluation conducted by Duke University Office of Public Affairs.
• Duke-Durham Partnership Initiative Evaluation(pdf) (November 2006)
  Assessing the progress of the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership.
  Evaluation conducted by Sally Leiderman and Matt Leiderman, Center for Assessment and Policy Development, and David Maurrasse, Ph.D., and Cynthia Jones, Marga Inc.

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Helping Communities Support Children and Families

Lessons Learned and Affirmed: The Duke Endowment Children and Families Program(pdf) (January 2003)
Assessing the work of 12 community partnerships formed to support children and families.
Evaluation conducted by Institute for Families in Society, University of South Carolina.

Preventing Child Abuse

A series of reports assessing and documenting the implementation of the Child Abuse Prevention Initiative.
Evaluation conducted by Deborah Daro, Lee Ann Huang, Brianna English.

• The Duke Endowment Child Abuse Prevention Initiative: A Midpoint Assessment(pdf) (2009)
  Assessing the degree to which grantees are operationalizing the theory change after the Child Abuse Prevention Initiative's initial five years.
• The Duke Endowment Child Abuse Prevention Initiative: Durham Family Initiative Implementation Report(pdf) (2009)
  Understanding the achievements, challenges and lessons of the Durham Family Initiative in its initial five years.
• The Duke Endowment Child Abuse Prevention Initiative: Strong Communities Implementation Report(pdf) (2009)
  Understanding the achievements, challenges and lessons of Strong Communities in its initial five years.

Promoting Healthy Hospital Campuses

Impact of UNC Health Care's Tobacco-Free Hospital Campus Policy on Hospital Employees(pdf) (February 2008)
Evaluating the impact of a tobacco-free hospital campus policy on employees.
Evaluation conducted by UNC School of Medicine Nicotine Dependence Program.

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Promoting Wellness in Children's Homes

ENRICH: Duke Endowment Wellness Project(pdf) (April 2009)
Assessing children's home environments as they support healthy eating and physical activity.
Evaluation conducted by Ruth Saunders, Ph.D., P.I., and Alexandra Evans, Ph.D., Co-P.I., University of South Carolina Research Foundation.

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Providing Flood Relief Through Churches and Hospitals

Flood Relief Grants 1999-2001: Summary of Grant Appropriations and Lessons Learned(pdf) (October 2002)
Providing flood relief through churches, hospitals and community agencies.
Evaluation conducted by The Duke Endowment.

Strengthening the Nursing Workforce

Final Report Executive Summary: Retrospective Evaluation of The Duke Endowment's Nursing Workforce Grant Initiative(pdf) (February 2008)
Documenting best practices and outcome indicators for the nursing workforce.
Evaluation conducted by Nina Vinson and Jill Fromewick, SAGE Partners, Inc.

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Strengthening Economic Development in Rural Communities

• Final Reflections from the Chapin Hall Learning Project(pdf) (March 2006)
  Identifying the contributions of Program for the Rural Carolinas in building leadership, assets and structures needed for long-term economic renewal.
• Public Sector Involvement(pdf) (March 2006)
  Exploring strategies for engaging the public sector in Program for the Rural Carolinas.
• The Role of the Hospital(pdf) (March 2006) Examining the experience of hospitals participating in Program for the Rural Carolinas.
• Managing and Supporting the Program for the Rural Carolinas(pdf) (February 2006) Drawing lessons from the management of and provision of support to Program for the Rural Carolinas.
• The Role of the Church(pdf) (May 2005) Examining the experience of churches in Program for the Rural Carolinas.
• Leadership Development(pdf) (December 2004)
  Exploring strategies for leadership development in Program for the Rural Carolinas.
• Managing and Implementing the Program for the Rural Carolinas: The Role of Staff(pdf) (May 2004) Focusing on the role of staff in supporting Program for the Rural Carolinas.
• Constituting Effective Teams for Rural Development(pdf) (November 2003)
  Examining team makeup and structures in Program for the Rural Carolinas.
• Doing Development Differently: Innovation and Learning(pdf) (November 2003) Translating new ideas into actionable realities in Program for the Rural Carolinas.
• The Role of The Duke Endowment's Eligible Institutions(pdf) (November 2003)
  Examining how hospitals and churches contribute to economic renewal in Program for the Rural Carolinas.
• The Rural Program: A New Effort by The Duke Endowment to Help Strengthen Rural Communities in North Carolina and South Carolina(pdf) (September 2001)
  The Duke Endowment
  Initial objectives and plans for addressing the economic decline in rural North Carolina and South Carolina.

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Supporting Children in Domestic Violence Shelters

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