Browse effective Resources
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Making Your Evaluation Inclusive: A Practical Guide for Evaluation Research with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people are included - but often invisible - in many evaluations. In light of increased federal attention at home and abroad to LGBT-specific data collection and the growing awareness of disparities faced by this population, evaluators must be prepared to consider how programs and policies affect LGBTQ people. Author: Efrain Gutierrez Type: Research & Reports Date: Nov 17, 2015 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Portfolio Evaluation vs. Grant Evaluation In this webinar Johanna Morariu and Ehren Reed discuss four levels of evaluation: grant-level, portfolio-level, foundation-level, and issue-level. The presentation addresses the pros and cons of these four levels of evaluation, and when one level may be more appropriate than another. Also included are considerations for right-sizing your evaluation approach—design, data collection, analysis, and reporting differences between grant and portfolio evaluations.Author: Johanna Morariu and Ehren Reed Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Feb 22, 2012 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Program Evaluation: Assessing and Measuring Your Program’s Performance Innovation Network's slideshow (from a presentation to the 2007 Nonprofit Technology Conference in Washington, D.C.) about the importance of planning for effective program evaluation, using our online tools, and leveraging online communities for knowledge-sharing. (1.15 MB .pdf file; may take some time to download.) Author: Innovation Network, Inc. Type: Presentation Slides Date: Jan 18, 2008 Be the first to review this resource! Download (1.15 MB) -
Report: "What Makes an Effective Advocacy Organization? A Framework for Determining Advocacy Capacity" TCC Group's Jared Raynor, Peter York and Shao-Chee Sim authored "What Makes an Effective Advocacy Organization? A Framework for Determining Advocacy Capacity" based on TCC's evaluation of a cohort of advocacy groups funded by The California Endowment. Author: TCC Group Type: Research & Reports Date: Jan 1, 2009 Be the first to review this resource! Download (5.81 MB) -
Room for Improvement: Foundations' Support of Nonprofit Performance Assessment Amidst growing pressure for nonprofits to measure and assess their performance, the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) finds that nonprofits sorely lack the support they need. CEP finds that 81 percent of the nonprofits surveyed believe that nonprofits should demonstrate the effectiveness of their work by using performance measures.
CEP also finds that:
» Nonprofits very much want to be able to understand their performance and are taking steps to do so. Nonprofits want more help in performance assessment efforts than they are currently receiving from their foundation funders.Author: Brock, Andrea; Buteau, Ellie; Herring, An-Li Type: Research & Reports Date: Sep 1, 2012 Be the first to review this resource! Download (1.04 MB) -
Speaking for Themselves: Advocates' Perspectives on Evaluation "Speaking for Themselves: Advocates' Perspectives on Evaluation" will give you a better understanding of advocates' views on evaluation, the advocacy strategies and capacities they find effective, and current evaluation practices. Based on Innovation's Network's research, the report includes recommendations for advocates, funders, and evaluators. Both the research and publication were made possible by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and The Atlantic Philanthropies. Author: Innovation Network, Inc. Type: Research & Reports Date: Aug 12, 2008 Point K Pick
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Strategy Development: Key Questions for Developing an Advocacy Strategy In this strategy discussion publication, the author clarifies the difference between tactics and strategies, and offers nine questions that are part of an effective strategy:
- OBJECTIVES: What do you want?
- AUDIENCES: Who can give it to you?
- MESSAGE: What do they need to hear?
- MESSENGERS: Who do they need to hear it from?
- RESOURCES: What have we got?
- GAPS: What do we need to develop?
- FIRST EFFORTS: How do we begin?
- EVALUATION: How do we tell if it's working?
Author: Shultz, Jim Type: Research & Reports Date: Jan 1, 2004 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Strengthening Nonprofit Capacity Capacity building enables nonprofit leaders and organizations to develop the skills and resources they need to improve their work. Since each situation is unique and circumstances are always changing, effective capacity-building support is tailored to best suit the needs of grantees. This publication offers practical guidance and considerations to help grantmakers design an impactful approach. Author: Grantmakers for Effective Organizations Type: Research & Reports Date: Feb 19, 2015 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Summary of Expert Interview Findings for Evaluating Policy and Advocacy Organizational Effectiveness This report summarizes TCC’s recent interview findings with selected policy advocacy experts (such as funders, researchers, consultants and practitioners) as well as a literature review of recent research. Drawing from its own work in organizational development and organizational effectiveness, TCC probed experts around four capacities TCC has found to be central to organizational effectiveness (leadership, adaptive, management and technical). The primary purpose of the research was to understand how the framework applies specifically to effective advocacy organizations. Author: TCC Group Type: Research & Reports Date: Jun 28, 2006
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The Challenge of Assessing Policy and Advocacy Activities The paper is designed to outline an approach to policy change evaluation grounded in the experience of experts and foundation colleagues. (See Appendix A for the research methodology.) This paper first posits three key priorities in evaluating policy change work, drawn from interviews with grantees and staff from The California Endowment on their needs concerning policy change evaluation. It also discusses the challenges inherent in monitoring and assessing these types of grants.
Author: Commissioned by The California Endowment. Researched and Written by Blueprint Research and Design, Inc. Type: Research & Reports Date: Oct 1, 2005 Be the first to review this resource! Download (2.84 MB) -
The Community Toolbox The Community Tool Box is a global resource for free information on essential skills for building healthy communities. It offers practical guidance in creating change and improvement in a wide range of areas.
Part A. Models for Promoting Community Health and Development: Gateways to the Tools
Part B. Community Assessment, Agenda Setting, and Choice of Broad Strategies
Part C. Promoting Interest and Participation in Initiatives
Part D. Developing a Strategic Plan, Organizational Structure, and Training System
Author: Work Group for Community Health and Development Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Jan 1, 2011
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The Grantmaker’s Role in Theory of Change Innovation Network developed these three introductory evaluation documents as part of Building Nonprofit Capacity to Evaluate, Learn, and Grow Impact, a workshop we presented in partnership with Grantmakers for Effective Organizations' Scaling What Works initiative. Author: Johanna Morariu, Innovation Network, Inc. Type: Research & Reports Date: Apr 1, 2012 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Download (419.72 KB) -
The Guide to Community Presentive Services The Guide to Community Preventive Services is a free resource to help you choose programs and policies to improve health and prevent disease in your community. Systematic reviews are used to answer these questions:
- Which program and policy interventions have been proven effective?
- Are there effective interventions that are right for my community?
- What might effective interventions cost; what is the likely return on investment?
Author: Office of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services (OSELS) Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Mar 22, 2010 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Transactions Transformations Translations: Metrics That Matter for Building, Scaling, and Funding Social Movements Metrics can help organizations articulate where they are going, what road they are taking, and what they expect to find along the way. They can help groups strike the right balance in the trade-offs above, allocating time and energy to be maximally effective. They can serve as a guide and tool for lifting up lessons for the field and for funders.
Author: Manuel Pastor, Jennifer Ito, Rachel Rosner Type: Research & Reports Date: Oct 1, 2011
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USAID Performance Monitoring and Evaluation TIPS TIPS
USAID's Performance Monitoring and Evaluation TIPS provide practical advice and suggestions to USAID managers and partners on issues related to performance monitoring and evaluation. These publications are supplemental references to the Automated Directive Service (ADS) Chapter 203 (pdf, 264kb).
Author: USAID Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Jan 1, 2012 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Using Evaluation to Become an Effective Learning Organization Philanthropists have an obligation to learn. The best way to make smarter philanthropic investments over time—and get better results from those investments—is to generate good information about what’s working, what’s not working, and why. And evaluation is key in this process.
Author: Grantmakers for Effective Organizations and PhilanthroFiles Type: Research & Reports Date: Sep 24, 2014 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Vision to Practice: Setting a New Course for Early Childhood Governance During the past decade, the federal, state, and local governments, along with early childhood experts and advocates, have been giving increasing attention to reducing the fragmentation, uneven quality, and inequity that characterize early childhood programs and services. A constant thread hroughout this work is the proposition that governance is an essential ingredient for building a system that can bolster all the important elements necessary for children's healthy development and learning.
Author: Stacie Goffin, Jana Martella, and Julia Coffman Type: Research & Reports Date: Jan 31, 2011 Be the first to review this resource! Download (245.55 KB) -
What Makes an Effective Coalition This paper explores the evidence base for what makes an effective coalition with the assumption that understanding what makes them effective and how to assess and improve them will increase their effectiveness as an advocacy tool and reduce potential frustrations associated with operating in coalition.
Author: Jared Raynor, TCC Group Type: Research & Reports Date: Mar 1, 2011
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