Short Talk 4: Did I Make a Bad Grant, or Did I Make a Grant Badly?
Session Designer
Mae Hong, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
Session Description
For all the hand-wringing and hair-pulling we do about our grantees’ evaluation results, funders seldom pause to reflect about their own culpability in their grantees’ success. When we are disappointed by what a grantee achieves (or not) with our funding, we console ourselves with “what we learned” and pat ourselves on the back for having “taken a risk” on something. But we don’t ask ourselves, “How was my grant responsible for this outcome?” “What might I have done differently to help contribute to success?” Mae Hong will encourage participants to change the questions we ask grantees and ourselves.
Session Type
Short Talk
Speakers
![[photo]](https://8ca84662c5b8f0cff50d-4baaaf97d63fd7b01243e1b1c57f0cc1.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/312/profile_fedd78ee6aea7f324915bc8146debec5.png "Mae Hong, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors")
Mae Hong, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
Biography
Mae Hong is the director of the Chicago office of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. In this role she is responsible for building RPA’s presence in serving individual donors, foundations and corporations throughout the Midwest. Bringing more than 15 years of nonprofit and philanthropy experience to RPA, Hong previously served as program director at the Field Foundation of Illinois. She completed her graduate work in social service administration at The University of Chicago. Prior to entering the nonprofit sector, Hong worked in the publishing industry for several years following her graduation from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.