Browse Action and Improvement Resources
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"Participatory Performance Story Reporting" Clear Horizon, an M&E company in Australia, describes its participatory approach, specifically as it relates to the method of performance story reporting (PPSR). The company defines performance story reports as "essentially a short report about how a program contributed to outcomes." This page on their website includes links to other pages that describe the structure, process, and limitations of this the PPSR method. Author: Clear Horizon Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Dec 31, 2008 Be the first to review this resource! Download (161.39 KB) -
#14ntcdataviz: DataViz! Tips, Tools, and How-tos for Visualizing Your Data [Resource Handout] This resource handout accompanied our presentation at the Nonprofit Technology Conference on March 13, 2014 in Washington, DC. Author: Johanna Morariu and Ann Emery, Innovation Network Type: Tipsheets & Paper Tools Date: Mar 13, 2014 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Download (349.1 KB) -
#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 -
#JAGUnity2014: DataViz for Philanthropists! Tips, Tools, and How-Tos for Communicating Better with Charts [Handout] This resource handout accompanied a presentation by Innovation Network's Johanna Morariu and Ann K. Emery for the Joint Affinity Group's Unity Conference on June 6, 2014 in Washington, DC. Author: Johanna Morariu and Ann K. Emery, Innovation Network Type: Tipsheets & Paper Tools Date: Jun 6, 2014 Be the first to review this resource! Download (255.28 KB) -
#JAGUnity2014: DataViz for Philanthropists! Tips, Tools, and How-Tos for Communicating Better with Charts [Slides] Presentation by Innovation Network's Johanna Morariu and Ann K. Emery at the Joint Affinity Groups Unity Conference, held June 6, 2014 in Washington, DC. Author: Johanna Morariu and Ann K. Emery, Innovation Network Type: Presentation Slides Date: Jun 6, 2014 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
#YNPNdc14: DataViz! Tips, Tools, and How-tos for Visualizing Your Data [Resource Handout] Johanna Morariu and Ann K. Emery presented at the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network 2014 Annual Leadership Conference, which was held on May 9, 2014 in Washington, DC. Author: Johanna Morariu and Ann K. Emery, Innovation Network Type: Tipsheets & Paper Tools Date: May 9, 2014 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Download (253.7 KB) -
#YNPNdc14: DataViz! Tips, Tools, and How-tos for Visualizing Your Data [Slides] Johanna Morariu and Ann K. Emery presented at the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network 2014 Annual Leadership Conference, which was held on May 9, 2014 in Washington, DC. Author: Johanna Morariu and Ann K. Emery, Innovation Network Type: Presentation Slides Date: May 9, 2014 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
5 Evaluation Lessons From a Recovering Program Officer (Presentation slides) As a profession, evaluators must constantly demonstrate the value of their work to remain relevant. Each evaluation represents a significant investment in resources that many argue could be used to provide more programming. Author: Will Fenn Type: Presentation Slides Date: Oct 17, 2013 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Download (4.05 MB) -
5 Evaluation Lessons from a Recovering Program Officer (recording) As a profession, evaluators must constantly demonstrate the value of their work to remain relevant. Each evaluation represents a significant investment in resources that many argue could be used to provide more programming. A primary concern of maintaining the value proposition of the evaluation field is ensuring that evaluations remain manageable and useful to all participants. The Ignite session offered five succinct lessons from a former foundation Program Officer that can be applied across program types to help nonprofits and foundations improve evaluation coordination and use. Author: Will Fenn Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Oct 17, 2013 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
A Guide to Actionable Measurement Staff members from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation discuss the principles and practices they use to make decisions about data collection, analysis, and reporting. Their approach, "actionable measurement," emphasizes the collection of information for specific decisions or actions.
UPDATE: We had a broken link here. It was updated on Jan. 13, 2011.
Author: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Type: Research & Reports Date: May 10, 2010
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A Helpful Guide to Failure in Philanthropy. Use Carefully. Larry Blumenthal's article provides perspective about the fear of failure in philanthropy, and how to overcome that fear so foundations can learn from their mistakes (and other foundation's mistakes) to achieve their mission and program goals. Author: LARRY BLUMENTHAL Type: Newsletters & Periodicals Date: Jan 7, 2010 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
A Practical Guide to Evaluating Systems Change in a Human Services System Context This Guide is for evaluators who would like a practical “way in” to thinking about systems and systemschange. The key practical step the Guide takes is to limit the type of system to be evaluated to aparticular type of system (a type that systems change initiatives often target): a human servicesdelivery system (e.g. health, education, workforce development, etc.).Author: Nancy Latham Type: Research & Reports Date: Jan 1, 2015 Be the first to review this resource! Download (1.03 MB) -
Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab Executive Training: Evaluating Social Programs 2009 This five-day program on evaluating social programs provides a thorough understanding of randomized evaluations and pragmatic step-by-step training for conducting one's own evaluation. While the course focuses on randomized evaluations, many of the topics, such as measuring outcomes and dealing with threats to the validity of an evaluation, are relevant for other methodologies.
Courses have been recorded and loaded as videos online, split up by topic. You may also access the course lecture notes and assignments.Author: Esther Duflo, Rachel Glennerster, & Abhijit Banerjee Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: May 1, 2009 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Addressing Attribution of Cause and Effect in Small n Impact Evaluations: Towards an Integrated Framework With the results agenda in the ascendancy in the development community, there is an increasing need to demonstrate that development spending makes a difference, that it has an impact. This requirement to demonstrate results has fuelled an increase in the demand for, and production of, impact evaluations. There exists considerable consensus among impact evaluators conducting large n impact evaluations involving tests of statistical difference in outcomes between the treatment group and a properly constructed comparison group.
Author: Howard White and Daniel Phillips Type: Research & Reports Date: Jun 1, 2012
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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 Evaluation Update #9 In This Issue:
1. Feature: Framework of Factors that Affect Political Support
Why do some issues receive priority attention from political leaders while others receive very little? Political scientist Jeremy Shiffman has developed a framework that offers a response to this question.
2. Spotlight: Evaluating Community Organizing
Catherine Crystal Foster and Justin Louie identify what to consider when evaluating community organizing efforts. They also offer example benchmarks and methods for capturing organizing outcomes.
Author: Julia Coffman (ed.) Type: Newsletters & Periodicals Date: May 1, 2010 Be the first to review this resource! Download (329.6 KB) -
Advocacy Impact Evaluation Reflections on a retrospective advocacy evaluation case study of a legislative campaign. The case study, based on a thorough review of the campaign’s activities, interviews with key informants, and careful analysis of the Supreme Court decision, examines a coordinated final-push campaign and its outcomes. Author: Patton, Michael Quinn Type: Research & Reports Date: Mar 1, 2008 Point K Pick
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Agency and Empowerment: A Proposal for Internationally Comparable Indicators This article proposes a short list of internationally-comparable indicators of inclividual agency and empowerment (and the corresponcling survey questions). Data from these indicators would enable researchers to explore research and policy issues such as the interconnections between empowerment and economic or human development. The article sUNeys definitions of agency and empowerment, adopts the definition from Amartya Sen, supplemented by Rowlands' typology. Author: Solava Ibrahim and Sabina Alkire Type: Research & Reports Date: Jun 30, 2007 Be the first to review this resource! Download (2.21 MB) -
An Essential Guide to SWOT Analysis The Essential Guide to SWOT Analysis is the end product of a unique collaboration. As previously noted, through my work at a startup, I realized that there were no great, comprehensive SWOT guides out there, especially for people in the business world. So, I enlisted my college mentor, Justin Gomer, a Lecturer at UC Berkeley, and we decided to make a comprehensive guide ourselves. Author: Justin Gomer & Jackson Hille Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Jan 1, 2014 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
An Evaluation Approach for an Environmental Think Tank and Advocacy Organization Johanna Morariu described how Innovation Network worked with the Post Carbon Institute to develop an organizational evaluation framework. We developed and fine tuned several assessment areas for think tank evaluation and advocacy evaluation with interview data collected from key informants. Then, in consultation with key staff from the Post Carbon Institute, we created an organizational theory of change. The theory contains information about the organization’s mission; audiences; strategies; focusing events, crises, and windows of opportunity; desired shifts, and impact. Author: Johanna Morariu Type: Opinion (blog, editorial) Date: Apr 19, 2011 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Applying Culturally-Responsive Communication in Hispanic/Latino Communities Understanding cultural norms can help you to better reach, communicate with and educate your audience. When you meet someone new, you should always remember to be open and respectful of their beliefs. This resource provides some norms that are common among all Hispanic/Latino cultures, and examples of a few of those norms and ways to improve communication with the communities you serve. Author: Susan G. Komen Foundation Type: Tipsheets & Paper Tools Date: Dec 1, 2014 Be the first to review this resource! Download (370.56 KB) -
Approaches to Supporting Evaluation Capacity Building Myia Welsh and Johanna Morariu outline six lessons gleaned from their evaluation capacity building experiences with nonprofits, highlighting Innovation Network's white paper titled "Evaluation Capacity Building: Funder Initiatives to Strengthen Grantee Evaluation Capacity and Practice." Author: Johanna Morariu and Myia Welsh Type: Opinion (blog, editorial) Date: Aug 28, 2011 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Ask the expert: What is strategic learning and how do you develop an organizational culture that encourages it? In article from The Evaluation Exchange, John A. Healy, Director of Strategic Learning and Evaluation at The Atlantic Philanthropies, shares ways to position learning as an organizational priority. Author: Julia Coffman, HFRP; Erin Harris, HFRP Type: Newsletters & Periodicals Date: Jun 1, 2005 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Assessing Capacity for Community Change Efforts: Learnings From an Adaptive Initiative (Presentation slides) Should community change efforts be focused on funding coalitions or funding a flexible group of community leaders? The Kansas Health Foundation has embraced a four-pronged community change model that targets community leaders as key agents of change within each of their funded communities. Author: Kat Athanasiades, Veena Pankaj, Deanna Van Hersh Type: Presentation Slides Date: Oct 17, 2013 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Download (682.32 KB) -
Assessing Capacity for Community Change Efforts: Learnings From an Adaptive Initiative [Slides] Should community change efforts be focused on funding coalitions or funding a flexible group of community leaders? The Kansas Health Foundation has embraced a four-pronged community change model that targets community leaders as key agents of change within each of their funded communities. Innovation Network, the evaluation partner for the Kansas Health Foundation's Healthy Communities Initiative, developed and deployed an assessment tool designed to contribute to the assessment of leadership capacity in effecting community change. Author: Kat Athanasiades, Veena Pankaj, and Deanna Van Hersh Type: Presentation Slides Date: Oct 17, 2013 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link