The Insider's Guide to Grantmaking: How Foundations Find, Fund, and Manage Effective Programs

Using Consultants for Site Visits

Your schedule being what it is, you may not have the opportunity to conduct site visits in a timely fashion. The choice then becomes to forego site visits or to have a consultant conduct them. Although it would be ideal for you to conduct the visit personally, it is almost always better for there to be a consultant-conducted site visit than none at all. This is not to say, however, that a consultant-conducted site visit is without its own set of challenges.

First, you need to weigh the general pros and cons of working with consultants. These will be covered in detail in Chapter Ten. Second, it is unfair to all involved to simply toss a file at a consultant and expect that person to conduct a quality site visit. ...