European foundations facing the challenges of impact governance

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Governance of impact is critical for foundations. It shapes how the board and executive leadership make optimal decisions to advance their organization’s mission, playing a central role in creating, implementing, and assessing the foundation’s strategy. But this perspective needs to broaden, opening more to external voices and stakeholders, and ensuring accountability flows not only top-down but also bottom-up.

Esade Professor Guillermo Casasnovas hosted a podcast with Leonora Buckland, ECSI senior researcher and lead author of the report Governance of Impact: Can European Foundations Rise to the Challenge?  Governance of impact can be described in two simple questions: are foundations doing the right things? And are they doing the right things right? The study focuses on how foundations can ensure they are achieving their mission and maximizing their impact. It explores the challenges foundations face in defining and measuring impact, engaging boards, managing data and knowledge sharing, and involving stakeholders.

In the podcast, Leonora explains the framework developed by the study, which breaks down governance of impact into three core elements: people and culture, knowledge and information flows, and structures and processes. Each element is further elaborated with three specific levers that foundations can use to improve their governance, also visualized in the short explanatory video below. She highlights examples of how foundations like the King Baudouin Foundation, Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation, Laudes Foundation and Bertelsmann Stiftung are implementing innovative practices in data management, storytelling, and stakeholder engagement to enhance their impact governance.