Gender Analysis Tools
Some foundations use standard gender analysis tools to assist their grantmakers and grantees in the field. Here are two common types, the interview protocol and the diversity table:
- The ClearSighted protocol, created by Chicago Women in Philanthropy, is a set of questions — some simple, some more probing — designed to open up a conversation about gender with grantees. The protocol has been adapted and customized by a number of other organizations.
- The Agency Diversity Data Form, a diversity table used by the Hyams Foundation, helps grantmakers and grantees understand how inclusive an organization is, in terms of both gender and race/ethnicity — and therefore where it might need to make changes in order to deliver on its objectives. The form is available as a downloadable spreadsheet.
The experience of grantmakers who have used these and similar tools suggests five “principles of practice,” or ideas for making the best of a gender analysis tool:
- Use it to start gender analysis, not to substitute for it.
- Use it most before and after grantee discussions.
- Use it at grant-renewal time.
- Use it to signal commitment.
- Use it in your foundation.
Takeaways are critical, bite-sized resources either excerpted from our guides or written by Candid Learning for Funders using the guide's research data or themes post-publication. Attribution is given if the takeaway is a quotation.
This takeaway was derived from Grantmaking with a Gender Lens.
