By Ian Wilhelm

While many foundation officials say their grant-making efforts are achieving success, they rely heavily on anecdotal evidence and often fail to gather data about themselves and their work, according to a new report.

In the survey of 191 foundation executives and officers at 155 grant makers, 76 percent said their organization is effective at “creating impact.” But only 8 percent said they could point to specific data to support such claims.

The findings were part of a study on foundation strategy by the Center for Effective Philanthropy, a Cambridge, Mass., research group. The center provides, for a fee, assessment tools to foundations, such as anonymous surveys of their grant recipients.

The report emphasizes that while foundations may see themselves as having a strategy, they often fail to properly evaluate whether they are meeting the goals they lay out.

“Without solid data, on what basis can foundation leaders determine what is working and what is not so they can decide whether to continue with a strategy or change course,” it asks.

In all, the center’s survey found 26 percent of respondents said they use “metrics” or other quantitative assessment tools to judge all of their work, while 39 percent said they use data to evaluate some of their work.

Based on its assessments, the center qualified 50 percent of respondents as “more strategic” and 39 percent as “less strategic.” The rest it said could not be categorized.

“More strategic” people were more likely to have a strategic plan that they regularly referenced, communicate that plan to the public, have measurements to evaluate whether they are meeting their goals, and were “proactive” — by, for instance, seeking out potential grant recipients.