Social Solutions
transforming human services
Customer Case Study
Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
Founded in 1999, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation works to improve the
lives of children living in urban poverty. To date, the foundation has committed
more than $1 billion to assist nonprofit organizations working in major urban
communities in the United States, India and South Africa.
The foundation has long approached grant making with a data-driven focus, using metrics-based methodologies and analysis to identify where resources can
be effectively applied to produce immediate results and long-term, sustainable
and scalable systemic changes. The foundation also works in close partnership
with grantees and actively collaborates with other foundations to develop data-driven strategies for improving the education, health and economic well-being of the children they serve.
While the foundation had a sophisticated grant management system to support
their work, grantees were unable to enter their performance data directly into
the system. Performance data reports were unstructured and inconsistent in
regard to metric definitions, resulting in a backlog of data that was not actionable. For grantees, the reports took a significant amount of time and resources
to produce, and offered little insight into their progress toward the foundation’s
goals and milestones.
The foundation implemented Social Solutions’ Efforts to Outcomes (ETO®) software to support performance data reporting and analytics for grantees providing
education programming and place-based health initiatives in Central Texas. The
foundation turned to Social Solutions because of the company’s unique experience in the field, especially in supporting outcomes measurement and reporting
in Promise Neighborhoods and other place-based initiatives. Additionally, the
foundation saw the ETO platform provided an easy-to-use interface that could
streamline grantee reporting processes, as well as the flexibility to accommodate the foundation’s changing needs as their performance measurement efforts
and requirements evolve.
“Social Solutions stood out
because of the maturity they
have as an organization and their
experience in the field. When
we started this project we had
an idea of the type of system
we needed but we weren’t sure
what the end product would
look like. Social Solutions met us
where we were and gave us
expert guidance on how to
develop a sophisticated
measurement framework and
what processes would be useful
for grantees.”
-Semonti Basu, Senior Analyst,
Research and Evaluation,
Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
Streamlined Performance Reporting
Today, seven Michael & Susan Dell Foundation grantees are currently using
ETO software to report performance data for education, college access,
and after school programs. More foundation grantees will begin using the
system later this year as ETO is expanded within the GO! Austin/VAMOS!
Austin (GAVA) initiative, which focuses on increased access to and participation in physical activity, improved nutrition and health in the Dove Springs
community in Austin.
To report on the foundation’s grant metrics, grantees input data directly into
ETO software. Each program site within ETO is configured with standard
outcomes metrics based on the grantee’s academic profile and program
offerings. Twice annually, grantees report aggregate level data, providing
the foundation with picture of each grantee’s progress toward milestones
and resource usage.
ETO software’s reporting functionality has significantly streamlined the foundation’s grantee reporting processes. In some cases, performance data
reports that would previously take up to six hours to compile, now took
an hour or less to produce. By standardizing metrics across programs, the
foundation now has a clear structured framework in which to analyze performance data. As grantees continue to collect data, the foundation will have
a longitudinal view of grantees’ progress toward milestones and resource
utilization that can be used to inform future investment decisions.
“We are still early in the data collection process, but we can
already see a shift in our grantees in how they are looking at and
talking about the data. ETO can provide a longitudinal look at our
grantees’ efforts and progress toward goals that many of them
have not seen before.”
–Semonti Basu, Senior Analyst, Research and
Evaluation, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
ETO software has also provided flexibility in allowing the foundation to
continue to collect and utilize meaningful data from grantees that are not
fully implemented within the performance reporting system. While the
use of ETO software for the GAVA initiative is still in the early stages, the
foundation is able to collect participant level data via batch upload to the
ETO system to track how residents and community leaders are progressing
toward milestones. In addition, the foundation maintains residents’ contact
information in ETO and can track whether residents are accessing other
services within their community partner network.
Over the next year, the foundation plans to develop standard custom reports grantees can utilize for their internal outcomes measurement purposes. At the request of their grantees, the foundation is also exploring
connecting with their grantees’ other funders to incorporate metrics within
the ETO system, allowing the grantees to produce all of their grantee performance reports from a single platform.
“During our selection processes
we were entertaining other
solutions and even considered
customizing our own solution.
Time and time again it came
back to ETO software. The
platform was going to meet our
needs on multiple levels and
could grow with us as those
needs evolved.”
–Virginia Potter, Team Lead,
Central Texas Community,
Michael & Susan
Dell Foundation
Building Capacity for Sustainability
The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation cites their planning work
and early conversations with Social Solutions prior to implementing the software as key to their success in developing
a robust performance measurement framework and system.
The process of implementing ETO software helped guide the
foundation in leading discussions about expectations of performance and data processes with grantees, as well as helped
the foundation reflect internally on how they could best partner
with their grantees to support their work.
The foundation has taken the ETO implementation process
as an opportunity to help cultivate a data culture among their
grantees and fill knowledge gaps surrounding data and evaluation where necessary. For grantees that already have a strong
data focus, the foundation has shifted emphasis from tracking
project-based outputs to tracking quality outcomes and indicators, and to improving capacity to meet those outcomes.
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“The ETO implementation process has
deepened our relationship even more
with our grantees and illuminated areas
that could be helpful to them. It changed
the tone of our conversation with our
grantees and has helped us examine
how we can improve their capacity to use
data to achieve outcomes and sustain
their work for the long-term.”
–Virginia Potter, Team Lead,
Central Texas Community,
Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
GS-35F-130BA