Evaluating the Impact of a Charitable Gift

At every turn, there are opportunities to contribute to worthy causes. Televised appeals beg for your donation to help alleviate third world poverty. Cashiers offer to round up your grocery bill to support the local food bank. Your inbox is overflowing with emails asking for your generous financial gift to medical research, church missions and more. Maybe you’ve asked yourself if your donations are really helping. If so, you’re not alone!

Most evaluations focus only on the immediate and tangible effects of a funded project or program. However, to measure true impact, donors should look toward the Integral Approach to evaluation. In this lecture, economist Martha Cruz-Zuniga explores what this approach looks like and how it ultimately leads to better comprehensive outcomes.

NOTE: A short portion of the video was corrupted during recording; the audio portion of the recording is not affected.