The leadership of Open Society’s Scholarship Programs commissioned an external evaluation examining the impact of over 30 years of grant making. The report explores how access to higher education through individual grant making has, or has not, contributed to the building of open societies. Using a mixed method approach of survey, document analysis, focus groups, and interviews, the evaluation found how the Scholarship Programs’ co-funding model operationalized the Open Society Foundations’ core commitments—building civil society, promoting democracy, fostering critical thinking, and advancing human rights—as it sustained a dedicated investment in individual grant making for more than three decades.
This work was co-led by Drs. Elise Ahn and Kate McCleary (faculty advisor: Professor Lesley Bartlett). The evaluation report publication may be downloaded from the Foundations’ website.