Concentric circles drawn in the sand.
Results-Based Accountability Part Three: Context


Author: Don Matteson

The last couple of posts in this series (here and here) have provided a high-level overview of Results-Based Accountability (RBA), and population accountability in particular. As a refresher, RBA is an ends-to-means approach to creating and measuring change at the community (i.e., population) and program (i.e., organization or service) levels. It’s built around goals (result … Continued

Results-Based Accountability Revisited, Part Two: Population Accountability


Author: Don Matteson

After a couple-year hiatus, I’m back to continue the refresher series on Results-Based Accountability (RBA)! In the last installment, we began exploring RBA and its five key questions, starting with, “How are we doing?” Answering this question requires zooming out and looking at community-level information, or population indicators. These population indicators provide a satellite view … Continued

Five young people jumping with a refresh symbol in front of them.
Results-Based Accountability: A Refresher


Author: Don Matteson

About eight years ago, we shared a blog post outlining our approach to Results-Based Accountability (RBA) as a tool for evaluating our grants’ effectiveness. With the benefit of a few more years of working with and thinking about RBA, a refreshed introduction seemed to be in order. Beyond that, we’re now seeing how we can … Continued

2022 Grantmaking Planning in Process


Author: Don Matteson

Our 2021 funding cycles are now closed* and we know many of you are wondering what our 2022 grantmaking will look like. We’re still working on our 2022 grant guidelines and a finalized grantmaking calendar. Here’s what we can share now: We’ll be increasing the number of opportunities to apply for Strengthening Partner Capacity grants … Continued

Challenge Accepted


Author: Don Matteson

In a previous blog post, we talked about how we’re beginning to operationalize the Tower Foundation’s emerging focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). One of the early steps we’ve taken is to get a better sense of the organizations we’re working with: how many are led (board and/or executive leadership), staffed, and serving people of … Continued

MHAP for Kids: A Tower Foundation Grant Partner Success Story


Author: Don Matteson

All too often, children whom teachers say are ‘acting out’ or who are in conflict with family members at home are actually struggling with mental health. Experts estimate that as many as 41,000 children in Massachusetts have unmet mental health needs, and nearly 17,000 of those youth qualify for an Individualized Education Plan in school owing to … Continued

It’s Alive! (Plus Funding Opportunities for our Western NY Partners)


Author: Don Matteson

At long last, I’m pleased to announce that the Tower Foundation has launched its new grants portal. We hope that it will be easier and more pleasant for you to see what grant opportunities are available, apply for grants, check on grant payments, request technical assistance, and share stories about your work. If you had … Continued

Tower Foundation Grant Portal Launches Thursday


Author: Don Matteson

We’re very excited about the transition to our new grants portal, but I’m sorry to say that we’re running a bit further behind schedule than we’d imagined. While we expected to “flip the switch” last week, it’s actually going to happen this Thursday. Here are a couple of things you need to know: If you … Continued

How well do parents of children with intellectual disabilities or learning disabilities think their communities support them?


Author: Don Matteson

Back in 2012 the Foundation’s Trustees and staff adopted a Results-Based Accountability (RBA) approach to understanding our grant making impact on the fields and communities we serve. As part of adopting RBA, we identified a total of 19 community-wide goals across the issue areas we support (if you’re curious, you can find them on page … Continued

Tweaks for Better Listening


Author: Don Matteson

Over the past year or so, we’ve been exploring Human-Centered Design (HCD). At a super-high level, HCD is a process of developing products or programs that places the end-user at the center of the process. It involves a deliberate set of stages and activities that helps designers get closer to end-users to get a better … Continued