In this article, we review 13 empirical studies that investigate the use of evaluation by foundations and highlight issues surrounding evaluation use in this context. After describing what is known in light of these studies, we discuss issues that warrant further investigation. We then report on preliminary findings from an ongoing study of evaluation use in small and mid-sized foundations which is being conducted as part of the University of Pittsburgh-Lilly Endowment evaluation partnership. We conclude by raising some questions that need to be addressed more rigorously by both the foundation and evaluation communities if we are to collectively improve the use of evaluation by one of our country's more important and powerful resources: foundations.
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