Assessing Progress: Flinn Foundation’s Five-Year Plan Nears Completion

When the Ethel and James Flinn Foundation launched its five-year strategic plan, it set out to create meaningful, multi-sector collaborations that would improve the way mental health services are delivered across southeast Michigan. Now, as the plan’s timeframe comes to a close, the Foundation is taking a deliberate, thoughtful approach to evaluating its impact — and charting the next steps.

To help assess progress, the Flinn Foundation has partnered with Tyler Logan, the Founder and CEO of Black in Public Health — a locally based public health learning, evaluation, facilitation and consulting collective. 

Logan brings experience in equity-centered approaches to public and behavioral health, philanthropy and systems change. His role isn’t just about gathering data — it’s about understanding the real-world impact of Flinn’s investments and ensuring that grantees and communities are supported in meaningful ways.

“A lot of that is how I plan to approach the evaluation — not only checking for where outcomes were achieved or not, but also looking at how certain grantees achieved them so that there can be almost a repository of different tools and resources that Flinn Foundation grantees use to do this work and make progress,” Logan says.

Measuring impact through trust-based philanthropy

Unlike traditional philanthropy models, where funders often focus on rigid grant requirements and top-down decision-making, the Flinn Foundation embraces a trust-based approach. This means working alongside grantees, allowing for flexibility and recognizing that systemic change takes time.

Logan, who first engaged with Flinn while working on behavioral health diversion projects at the Wayne State University Center for Behavioral Health and Justice, saw firsthand how the Foundation’s commitment extended beyond simply funding initiatives.

“Andrea (Cole) and the Flinn Foundation were hands-on, in the sense of ‘We want to walk with you to make sure you have the support you need, the resources you need,’” Logan says. “Not just us as evaluators or learning partners, but everyone involved in the work, whether it was the city of Detroit, local government or other community-based organizations.”

This hands-on, collaborative approach is central to Flinn’s five strategic priorities, which focus on improving mental health services, fostering cross-system collaboration, measuring outcomes, decreasing stigma and informing policy. Logan’s evaluation will help determine how these priorities have played out in practice — what has worked, what challenges remain and where opportunities exist to deepen impact.

The complexity of systems change

One of the biggest challenges in assessing impact is recognizing that progress in systems change, like mental health and youth justice transformation, is rarely immediate. Logan understands this well, having worked at multiple levels of the system — from frontline program implementation to high-level strategy and evaluation.

“Systems change, especially, takes years to actually happen,” he says. “I learned that firsthand, being a Flinn grantee at the time when we were doing work for years. And although progress was small, the incremental changes built upon one another and ultimately created larger impacts.”

For many grantees, the reality is that even well-funded initiatives face barriers, whether due to capacity constraints, shifting policy landscapes or the simple fact that deep-rooted issues take time to address. Part of Logan’s work involves capturing these challenges in an equitable, culturally responsive way to ensure that future strategies reflect the realities on the ground.

What comes next

With data collection underway — including surveys, focus groups and direct conversations with grantees — Flinn expects to have a clearer picture of its progress before the end of this year. From there, the Foundation will use these insights to refine its approach and determine the best ways to support behavioral health initiatives, service delivery, youth advocacy and justice reforms, and cross-sector collaborations moving forward.

While Logan’s current work with Flinn runs through August, the nature of this work means that conversations and evaluations will continue beyond that point. As grantees and partners share their insights, the findings will help shape not just Flinn’s next strategic phase but also the broader philanthropic landscape in Southeast Michigan.

“Ultimately, the work we’re doing today will help plant seeds that are fruitful for the outcomes of the future,” Logan says.

As the Flinn Foundation moves forward, one thing remains clear: systems change is a long-term effort. The Foundation’s willingness to evaluate, adapt and support its partners is what will allow its impact to continue growing, long after the five-year plan officially concludes.

Learn more about the Ethel and James Flinn Foundation. Visit flinnfoundation.org.