Browse findings Resources
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#14ntcdataviz: DataViz! Tips, Tools, and How-tos for Visualizing Your Data [Slides] Presentation by Ann K. Emery, Johanna Morariu, and Andrew Means at the 2014 Nonprofit Technology Conference in Washington, DC. Author: Ann K. Emery and Johanna Morariu Type: Presentation Slides Date: Mar 13, 2014 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Advocacy & Public Policy Grantmaking: Matching Process to Purpose Building on research conducted in 2007 by Coffman and Campbell, this brief summarizes advocacy and public policy grantmaking approaches and their implications for grant portfolio composition and management, auxiliary supports and evaluation. “Advocacy and public policy grantmaking” refers to grantmaking in support of a wide range of advocacy activities that are intend to trigger, block, maintain, support and/or monitor changes in public policy at any level of government. Author: Tanya Beer, Pilar Stella Ingargiola, and Meghann Flynn Beer Type: Research & Reports Date: Aug 5, 2012 Be the first to review this resource! Download (1.17 MB) -
Advocacy Capacity Tool (ACT) Report: First 100 User Groups (Executive Summary) In September 2013, Alliance for Justice’s Bolder Advocacy Initiative released a report offering a glimpse into how nonprofit organizations view their capacity for public policy work. The report is based on data from the first 100 groups to complete AFJ’s online self-assessment tool, the Advocacy Capacity Tool.Author: Alliance for Justice Type: Research & Reports Date: Sep 1, 2013 Be the first to review this resource! Download (703.04 KB) -
Advocacy For Poverty Eradication And Empowerment: Ways Forward For Advocacy Impact Assessment In this paper, Linda Mayoux examines and builds on advocacy evaluation frameworks such as those used by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the World Bank, the U.K. Department for International Development, and international NGOs.
The paper:Author: Mayoux, Linda Type: Research & Reports Date: Jan 1, 2003 Be the first to review this resource! Download (550.73 KB) -
AEA Workshop Presentation: "Expanding Advocacy Capacity" The authors, from the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco, presented the following slides during a workshop at the American Evaluation Association 2008 conference. Their session covered the findings (and methods) from their evaluation of The California Endowment's Clinic Consortia Policy and Advocacy Program. Author: Gardner, Annette; Geierstanger, Sara; Brindis, Claire Type: Presentation Slides Date: Oct 28, 2008 Be the first to review this resource! Download (850 KB) -
Agency Experiences with Outcome Measurement: Survey Findings As of January 2000, 400 United Ways across the country were asking programs they fund
to identify and measure their outcomes—the benefits or changes the programs want
participants to experience as a result of their services. United Ways are not alone. Many
state and local government agencies, foundations, managed care systems, and accrediting bodies
have added outcome measurement to the list of performance and accountability measures
they require of nonprofit organizations within their sphere.Author: United Way of America Type: Research & Reports Date: Jan 1, 2000 Be the first to review this resource! Download (209.74 KB) -
Alliance for Justice Advocacy Capacity Tool 2013: Public Aggregate Report In September 2013, Alliance for Justice’s Bolder Advocacy Initiative released a report offering a glimpse into how nonprofit organizations view their capacity for public policy work. The report is based on data from the first 100 groups to complete AFJ’s online self-assessment tool, the Advocacy Capacity Tool.Author: UW-Stout Applied Research Center Type: Research & Reports Date: Sep 1, 2013 Be the first to review this resource! Download (1.76 MB) -
Best Practices for Asking Questions about Sexual Orientation on Surveys In 2003 the Ford Foundation began funding a multi-year project that sought to increase the quantity and quality of data on gay, lesbian, and bisexual people, and, by extension, on heterosexual people. Over a five-year period, many researchers participated in the expert panel funded by the grant, thus contributing to the knowledge embodied in this report.
Author: Sexual Minority Assessment Research Team (SMART) Type: Research & Reports Date: Nov 1, 2009 Be the first to review this resource! Download (923.87 KB) -
Champions and “Champion-ness”: Measuring Efforts to Create Champions for Policy Change Creating “policy champions” who can bring about changes in public policy is central to many advocacy
projects. As advocacy advisors and evaluators for nonprofits and foundations, we work with a broad variety
of clients. Whether they aspire to increase access to contraception in Tanzania or to playgrounds in South
Central Los Angeles, we are likely to hear that identifying, informing, supporting or engaging policy champions is
a key element of their strategy.Author: David Devlin-Foltz and Lisa Molinaro Type: Research & Reports Date: Aug 31, 2010 Point K Pick
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CT Health Foundation - Findings from a 10-Year Evaluation of a Health Leadership Fellows Program In late 2014 the Connecticut Health Foundation (CT Health) commissioned an in-depth evaluation of its Health Leadership Fellows Program (HLFP). This signature program had been running for a decade and it was time to determine its impact and effectiveness.As a learning organization, CT Health believed it was important to undergo this important process.Author: Johanna Morariu & Katherine Haugh Type: Presentation Slides Date: Jul 1, 2015 Be the first to review this resource! Download (700.01 KB) -
Dabbling in the Data: A Hands-On Guide to Participatory Data Analysis Many quality improvement trainings either ignore data interpretations or offer limited guidance about how to dig into the data. This means that whoever speaks up first sets the agenda for the group—hardly a rigorous or fruitful process. Educators and children and youth professionals are increasingly interested in utilizing data to support continuous quality improvement, but few resources are available to help practitioners know what to do.Author: Public Profit Type: Research & Reports Date: Jan 1, 2014 Be the first to review this resource! Download (1.3 MB) -
Data and Information Visualization Throughout the Evaluation Life Cycle for Participatory Evaluation and Evaluation Capacity Innovation Network shared approaches and examples of how to incorporate innovative data and information visualization techniques throughout each stage of the evaluation life cycle to support participatory evaluation and build evaluation capacity. In the planning and design phase mind mapping can be used to promote brainstorming and idea generation. In the data collection stage, evaluators can use creative visuals to improve stakeholder understanding of and participation in data collection, and evaluators can adhere to good design principles to create effective data collection instruments. Author: Johanna Morariu, Myia Welsh, Veena Pankaj, Melissa March Type: Presentation Slides Date: Nov 3, 2011 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Data Visualization Approaches for Program Evaluation (and Beyond) Simone Parrish writes, "When you hear the phrase “program evaluation findings,” are you bored already? Most people—even within the evaluation field—perceive evaluation as dry. The major output of an evaluation is often a weighty report that gets read once (if at all) before it begins its long-term dust-collecting destiny.
Author: Simone Parrish Type: Opinion (blog, editorial) Date: Apr 29, 2014 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Echoes from the Field: Proven Capacity-Building Principles for Nonprofits This October 2001 report summarizes the findings of a study produced in collaboration with the Environmental Support Center and funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. The study identified nine principles critical to effective capacity building services: self-determination, trust, readiness, ongoing learning, team and peer learning, sensitivity to different learning styles, awareness of organizational culture, interrelatedness of organizational elements, and timeframe. Author: Innovation Network, Inc. Type: Research & Reports Date: Oct 1, 2001
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eNonprofits Benchmark Study: Measuring Email Messaging, Online Fundraising, and Internet Advocacy Metrics This report provides a snapshot of key metrics and benchmarks for nonprofit e-mail communications, online fundraising, and online advocacy. According to the authors, "Organizations will be able to use this study to begin to understand how to look at and analyze their own online communications data. It will provide context and comparisons for organizations doing their own ongoing reporting."
Author: M & R Strategic Services and the Advocacy Institute Type: Research & Reports Date: Mar 10, 2012 Be the first to review this resource! Download (2.25 MB) -
Evaluating Foundation-Supported Capacity Building: Lessons Learned This study of lessons learned from evaluations of philanthropic capacitybuilding programs used a national database of 473 programs, and a survey and interviews with 87 funders (82 foundations or foundation collaboratives, and five foundation-supported intermediaries) to answer two questions:
(1) How do foundations that support nonprofit capacity building evaluate their grantmaking and direct service activities?
(2) What lessons can be learned from valuation, both to improve these programs and justify the investments made in them?
Author: Thomas E. Backer, Jane Ellen Bleeg & Kathryn Groves Type: Research & Reports Date: Jan 1, 2010 Be the first to review this resource! Download (152.27 KB) -
Evaluation for the Way We Work Michael Quinn Patton describes the developmental evaluation approach. Here is an excerpt from the article:
Author: Michael Quinn Patton Type: Newsletters & Periodicals Date: Mar 21, 2006 Be the first to review this resource! Download (886 KB) -
From Insight to Action: New Directions in Foundation Evaluation This report highlights emerging approaches to evaluation in the field of philanthropy that increase the effectiveness of both foundations and their grantees. Author: FSG Social Impact Advisors Type: Research & Reports Date: Apr 1, 2007 Be the first to review this resource! Download (3.67 MB) -
Getting the Most from Evaluation In the June 6, 2007 issue the e-newsletter "Nonprofit Tools You Can Use" from the Fieldstone Alliance, Vince Hyman introduces an excerpt from the book Information Gold Mine: Innovative Uses of Evaluation by Paul Mattessich, et al. This excerpt discusses how a Colorado nonprofit, YouthZone, used its evaluation findings in a variety of ways. These uses included identifying infrastructure deficiencies, marketing, and informing changes to program design, among others. Author: Vince Hyman (Field Stone Alliance); Paul Mattessich, et al. Type: Newsletters & Periodicals Date: Jun 6, 2007 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Guidance Note #2: Linking Monitoring and Evaluation to Impact Evaluation This is the second guidance note in a four-part series of notes related to impact evaluation developed by InterAction with financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation. This second guidance note, Linking Monitoring and Evaluation to Impact Evaluation, illustrates the relationship between routine M&E and impact evaluation – in particular, how both monitoring and evaluation activities can support meaningful and valid impact evaluation.
Author: Burt Perrin Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Apr 16, 2012 Be the first to review this resource! Download (1.24 MB) -
Guidance Note #3: Introduction to Mixed Methods in Impact Evaluation Mixed methods (MM) evaluations seek to integrate social science disciplines with predominantly quantitative (QUANT) and predominantly qualitative (QUAL) approaches to theory, data collection, data analysis and interpretation. The purpose is to strengthen the reliability of data, validity of the findings and recommendations, and to broaden and deepen our understanding of the processes through which program outcomes and impacts are achieved, and how these are affected by the context within which the program is implemented.
Author: Michael Bamberger Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Sep 5, 2012 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Guidance Note #4: Use of Impact Evaluation Results This is the fourth guidance note in a four-part series of notes related to impact evaluation developed by InterAction with financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation.This fourth guidance note, Use of Impact Evaluation Results, highlights three themes crucial for effective utilization of evaluation results.
Author: David Bonbright Type: Research & Reports Date: Nov 7, 2012 Be the first to review this resource! Download (1.84 MB) -
Guidelines for Evaluating Non-Profit Communications Efforts The Communications Consortium Media Center has been engaged in its Media Evaluation Project since 2002, providing a review of current communications evaluation in the nonprofit world and the social science of communications strategies. The project produced four working papers by experts from the Berkeley Media Studies Group, Harvard Family Research Project and Michigan State University. These papers served as the research base for "Guidelines for Evaluating Non-Profit Communications Efforts." This working paper summarizes the project's findings and offers guidelines for the eva Author: Communications Consortium Media Center Type: Research & Reports Date: Apr 1, 2004 Be the first to review this resource! Download (113.86 KB) -
If You Build It, They Will Evaluate: Upping the Nonprofit Evaluation Game Johanna Morariu and Ann Emery discussed how nonprofit evaluation is progressing as a discipline with impact, highlighting findings from Innovation Network's State of Evaluation project about nonprofit evaluation practices and capacity. Author: Johanna Morariu and Ann Emery Type: Opinion (blog, editorial) Date: May 21, 2013 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Juvenile Justice Evaluation Center - Program Evaluation Briefing Series This Program Evaluation Briefing Series includes several documents:
Author: Justice Research and Statistics Association Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Dec 31, 2004 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link