Last fall, CHIP analyzed grant award data totaling over $40 million from 13 regional COVID-19 relief funds and created the Regional COVID Response Dashboard to show how community needs were being addressed. Generocity interviewed Kat Rosqueta, CHIP Executive Director, and Sidney Hargro, president of the Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia, about goals and lessons learned from the Dashboard.
It is well known that disasters stimulate giving. COVID-19, both the event and the donations, were unprecedented. But how does a funder decide the right place to put limited funds in order to do the most good under urgent conditions?
The Center for High Impact Philanthropy (CHIP) at the University of Pennsylvania was tasked by the Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia to create the COVID-19 Philanthropy Dashboard to help find the answers. The project was underwritten by the Lenfest and William Penn foundations.
“People were already vulnerable, COVID just compounded things,” CHIP Executive Director Katherina Rosqueta said.
“The idea for the dashboard came about because funders were asking questions about what gaps existed — and we couldn’t answer,” said Sidney R. Hargro, president of Philanthropy Network.
Funders needed a tool to help them determine if the money being donated was being spent in a way that would connect to the immense need that COVID-19 was rapidly unveiling.
