민간 중간지원조직의 책무성과 성과에 대한 연구

Abstract

This article investigates the key attributes of successful foundation-grantee relationships based upon grantee perceptions which is one of indicators for measuring effective foundation performance, even if grantee perceptions alone are not able to answer questions regarding them. However, in a general sense that foundations pursue their goals and achieve their impact largely by working in partnership with their grantees, the importance of grantee perception of the relationships cannot be overemphasized. In one of the first empirical studies investigating foundation-grantee relationships from grantee viewpoint, 25 activists and practitioners working for civil society organizations and nonprofit organizations in Incheon region were interviewed about their perspectives on the relationships with the Incheon Civic Foundation in the Incheon civil society context as well as its quality of them and the data were analyzed using grounded theory methodology. Finally, five key themes were identified: grantmaking target and method, grantmaking strategy, foundation management, quality of interaction, and overall evaluation criteria, among which the quality of interaction is the most important because it plays the intermediary role between evaluation criteria and other themes, thereby considerably influencing on grantee perceptions. From our findings, research propositions are offered for the future and implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed. In a practical sense, particularly, it is crucial that foundation practitioners understand the characteristics of successful foundation-grantee relationships.