A Descriptive Study of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Practices of Private Independent Philanthropic Funders in South Africa

Private independent philanthropy funding in low- and middle-income countries is gaining prominence worldwide, and philanthropic and corporate funding play an important role in the non-profit sector in South Africa. However, governance requirements for philanthropic and corporate funding are different, resulting in higher levels of transparency regarding corporate funding. Despite efforts to address the lack of formal documentation on African philanthropy there is a lack of reliable, comparable, and publicly available information on philanthropic funding in South Africa.

The philanthropy sector locally and internationally is under increased pressure to improve governance and public accountability, regarding what they fund and achieve through their funding. Calls for improved philanthropic accountability and transparency include that monitoring, evaluation and learning practices must be strengthened, and there are indications that some philanthropic funders are improving their practices in this regard.

This research seeks to determine how South African philanthropists view, approach, and implement monitoring, evaluation, and learning; how they use the information generated by these activities in their decision-making; and how they share the knowledge gained from monitoring and evaluation in the sector and with the public at large. The key question is: How do South African philanthropists make sure that they know if they are achieving their objectives to change the world for the better, and if they do so in the best possible way, with the resources they have available for this purpose?

This study will focus on the M&E and learning practices of South African philanthropic funders related to policies, budgets, and staffing; measurement of outcomes; the use of M&E data; and the value derived from M&E and learning practices. Practices and learnings that can be shared with private independent funders will be identified, to contribute to the knowledge base on M&E and learning practices within the philanthropic funding community in South Africa.

Supervisor: Dr L Wildschut, CREST, Stellenbosch University