“What I love about PolicyMap is that at any point when I am looking at a [grant] application and want to go deeper into a community, […] I can see if there are relevant data in [PolicyMap] that get down to the sub-county level. [Rhode Island] is a small state, but there are real disparities, equity issues, pockets of poverty, and systemic challenges that get missed when you just look at the statewide indicators.”
See how PolicyMap can help your organization.
Through its strategic initiatives, the Rhode Island Foundation addresses priority needs in the state in the areas of economic security, educational success, and healthy lives. The depth of services and level of need, even in a state as small as Rhode Island, is continuous and evolving, so the Foundation must critically analyze areas of need to deliberately allocate investments in high-impact initiatives across communities. Social and economic factors, such as historic displacement of capital, educational attainment, and pre-existing health conditions are all crucial determinants for strategic philanthropic decision-making. The Foundation requires tools that enable program officers and evaluators to assess and visualize these multi-dimensional indicators at varying geographic levels to successfully invest in effective and secure programs.
Since 2018, the Rhode Island Foundation has utilized PolicyMap to assess evolving community-level needs. As said by Katie Murray, “[PolicyMap] is really [used] to understand our funding, our impact, within the context of the community and state and to drill down what it is that we’re seeing from grantees in relation to the community they’re working in and in relation to [Rhode Island].”
With the help of PolicyMap, the Rhode Island Foundation can confirm data sets and verify needs at the community-level. With high demand for funding within the state and finite grantmaking power, the Foundation can leverage PolicyMap as a tool to help assess grant allocation decisions and post-funding efficacy. Further, in proper determination of program impact and long-term intervention implications, the Rhode Island Foundation can leverage geospatial and community reporting data to gain insights into how indicators and progress in Rhode Island communities compare to both one another and different states. As the Foundation continues its devotion to support the needs of all Rhode Islanders, PolicyMap serves as an important tool to leverage to analyze, visualize, and realize sustainable change for Rhode Island.
With the help of PolicyMap, the Rhode Island Foundation can confirm data sets and verify needs at the community-level. With high demand for funding within the state and finite grantmaking power, the Foundation can leverage PolicyMap as a tool to help assess grant allocation decisions and post-funding efficacy. Further, in proper determination of program impact and long-term intervention implications, the Rhode Island Foundation can leverage geospatial and community reporting data to gain insights into how indicators and progress in Rhode Island communities compare to both one another and different states. As the Foundation continues its devotion to support the needs of all Rhode Islanders, PolicyMap serves as an important tool to leverage to analyze, visualize, and realize sustainable change for Rhode Island.