The David and Lucile Packard Foundation combines the best of the family foundation with the best of the professional philanthropy enterprise. In this audio lecture, part of the Stanford Social Innovation Review's conference on evaluation, president and CEO Carol Larson reflects on the organization's journey to assess its performance and refine its strategy.
Larson discusses how the foundation has been committed over the past ten years to turning itself into a "learning organization" through the effective use of feedback and data, as well as a spirit of innovation and collaboration among staff, board, grantees, and other organizations. She shares techniques for data collection, and some of the structures, tools, and novel approaches the foundation has employed to keep focused on performance improvement.
Carol Larson is president and CEO of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, a position she has held since January 2004. She served as the Packard Foundation's director of programs from 1995 through 1999, and was appointed a vice president of the organization in 2000. As director of programs, she worked directly with the president to manage the foundation's entire grantmaking portfolio. Larson joined the foundation in 1989 as director of research and grants, law, and public policy at the Foundation's Center for the Future of Children. Prior to joining the foundation, she was a partner in the Los Angeles law firm of O'Donnell and Gordon, specializing in civil litigation. Larson received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and her law degree from Yale Law School. Upon graduation, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Warren J. Ferguson, United States District Court, Central District of California.
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