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Slingshot Memphis proposes evaluation partnership to streamline Milton grants
Summary
Slingshot Memphis urged Shelby County commissioners to define grant goals, map current grantees and install reporting to improve Milton Community Enhancement Grant outcomes; commissioners asked for pilot scope, costs and district-level data.
Slingshot Memphis presented to the Milton Community Enhancement Grant Subcommittee on ways to tighten the county’s grantmaking infrastructure and measure impact. Jared Barnett, Slingshot’s president and CEO, said the organization focuses on program evaluation, philanthropic advising and strategic consulting and has worked with more than 50 local nonprofits. "We were created here in Memphis," Barnett said, describing Slingshot as a local, homegrown group founded in 2017.
John Donovan, Slingshot’s senior vice president, outlined front-end recommendations: define clear grant objectives, analyze the portfolio of current grantees and geographic coverage, refine the application to support evaluation, install reporting mechanisms and document the process for transparency and sustainability. Donovan said these changes are intended to be one-time infrastructure adjustments that set the program up for ongoing measurement.
Barnett told commissioners Slingshot manages an Accelerate Impact Fund that has raised "almost $8,000,000" and estimates it has generated more than $16,000,000 in poverty-fighting benefits since 2017. He said Slingshot can provide portfolio analysis and ROI-style evaluation so the county can better understand which investments yield the greatest community impact.
Commissioners welcomed the proposal but asked for clarity on costs, scope and how the work would be tailored to district priorities. The chair asked Slingshot to prepare both one-time (application redesign) and ongoing (evaluation) options and to meet individually with commissioners to align the work with each member’s objectives.
