Browse Nonpartisan election-related Resources
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Brief: "Pathways for Change: 6 Theories about How Policy Change Happens" ORS' Sarah Stachowiak discusses six theories on the process of policy change. This brief was published with the support of The California Endowment. Author: Organizational Research Services Type: Research & Reports Date: Jan 1, 2009 Be the first to review this resource! Download (200.21 KB) -
Current Advocacy Evaluation Practice Framing Paper Written for the Advocacy Evaluation Advances convening in January 2009, this paper summarizes the current state of advocacy evaluation practice. The paper identifies four evaluation design questions and then offers common responses to those questions: Who will do the evaluation?; What will the evaluation measure?; When will the evaluation take place?; and What methodology will the evaluation use?
Author: Julia Coffman Type: Research & Reports Date: Jan 31, 2009 Be the first to review this resource! Download (297 KB) -
Effective Advocacy Evaluation: The Role of Funders Johanna Morariu and Kathleen Brennan of Innovation Network produced this article for The Foundation Review to discuss the role of grantmakers in advocacy evaluation. The authors provide several recommendations based on their research into the practices of both advocacy grantmakers and grantees. Author: Johanna Gladfelter Morariu and Kathleen Brennan, Innovation Network Type: Research & Reports Date: Oct 1, 2009 Be the first to review this resource! Download (728.77 KB) -
Evaluating Social Innovation In this paper, the authors explore ways that common evaluation approaches and practices constrain innovation and offer lessons about an emerging evaluation approach—developmental evaluation—which supports the adaptation that is so crucial to innovation. For what kinds of grantmaking strategies should funders consider using developmental evaluation? What organizational conditions are necessary for it to work? How can grantmakers grapple with the challenging questions that developmental evaluation raises about innovation, accountability, rigor, and adaptation? Author: Hallie Preskill and Tanya Beer Type: Research & Reports Date: Aug 1, 2012 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Download (341.7 KB) -
Free Resources for Program Evaluation and Social Research Methods This page lists FREE resources for program evaluation and social research methods. The focus is on "how-to" do evaluation research and the methods used: surveys, focus groups, sampling, interviews, and other methods. Most of these links are to resources that can be read over the web. A few, like the GAO books, are for books that can be sent away for, for free (if you live in the US), as well as read over the web. Author: Gene Shackman Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Nov 22, 2007 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
From Expert to Advocate! Tools for Evidence-Based Advocacy In Your Community You are a powerful force in your community. As a service provider and/or community leader you see clearly where more progress can be made. How can you build the evidence base to change policies and increase resources to save more lives?
To get started, here are a few tools to assess gaps in service delivery and resource allocation, while increasing community and citizen ownership. These tools are just a sample of how to build your evidence base for effective advocacy. The process of developing your evidence base with your community can be as important as the end product.Author: ACTION: Advocacy to Control Tuberculosis Internationally Type: Tipsheets & Paper Tools Date: Jan 1, 2012 Be the first to review this resource! Download (684.46 KB) -
Guidance for designing, monitoring and evaluating peacebuilding projects using theories of change Achieving peace is a lengthy, complex process that involves many actors and interventions, some of whom work toward peace, while others promote the continuation of conflict. Conventional development models do not typically contemplate working with stakeholders for whom recourse to violence is the norm. Opportunities for peacebuilding evolve with shifting conflict dynamics. In peacebuilding, one step forward is often followed by steps backward. This guide seeks to help practitioners address these challenges.
Author: Heidi Ober, Carlisle Levine, Cheyanne Church Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Jun 2, 2012 Be the first to review this resource! Download (550.2 KB) -
Learning from Your Neighbor: Public Policy Dispute Resolution and Public Participation Maureen Berner and John Stephens from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Government presented the following slides at the 2008 American Evaluation Association Conference. This presentation, in conjunction with a paper of the same title, compares and constrasts the evaluation of public policy dispute resolution (PPDR) and public participation (PP) programs.
Author: Berner, Maureen; Stephens, John Type: Presentation Slides Date: Nov 1, 2008 Be the first to review this resource! Download (84 KB) -
Learning from Your Neighbor: The Value of Public Participation Evaluation for Public Policy Dispute Resolution Maureen Berner and John Stephens from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Government presented the following draft paper (NOTE: This resource includes the introduction only.) at the 2008 American Evaluation Association Conference. This draft, in conjunction with a presentation of the same title, compares and constrasts the evaluation of public policy dispute resolution (PPDR) and public participation (PP) programs.
Author: Berner, Maureen; Stephens, John Type: Research & Reports Date: Oct 13, 2008 Be the first to review this resource! Download (47.5 KB) -
Measuring Influence: Advocacy Evaluation Challenges and Successes This resource was created as an introduction to advocacy evaluation, and its intended audience is nonprofit staff with no evaluation expertise or experience. Knowledge Manager & Webmaster Simone Parrish developed this article as a synthesis of lessons learned from Innovation Network's advocacy evaluation work from 2005 to 2008. Now a single 16-page document, the article was originally presented as a five-part, weekly series on Grantstation.com in the fall of 2008. Author: Simone Parrish Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: May 28, 2008 Be the first to review this resource! Download (1.39 MB) -
Pathfinder Advocate Edition: A Practical Guide to Advocacy Evaluation Pathfinder is a practical guide to the advocacy evaluation process. This edition guides advocates through the advocacy evaluation process from start to finish. Editions for evaluators and funders are also available. Drawn from Innovation Network’s research and consulting experience, Pathfinder encourages the adoption of a “learning-focused evaluation” approach, which prioritizes using knowledge for improvement. Author: Innovation Network Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Nov 1, 2009 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Download (1.12 MB) -
Pathfinder Evaluator Edition: A Practical Guide to Advocacy Evaluation Pathfinder is a practical guide to the advocacy evaluation process. This edition guides evaluators through the advocacy evaluation process from start to finish. Editions for advocates and funders are also available. Drawn from Innovation Network’s research and consulting experience, Pathfinder encourages the adoption of a “learning-focused evaluation” approach, which prioritizes using knowledge for improvement. Author: Innovation Network Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Nov 1, 2009 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Download (1.4 MB) -
Pathfinder Funder Edition: A Practical Guide to Advocacy Evaluation Pathfinder is a practical guide to the advocacy evaluation process. This edition guides funders through the advocacy evaluation process from start to finish. Editions for advocates and evaluators are also available. Drawn from Innovation Network’s research and consulting experience, Pathfinder encourages the adoption of a “learning-focused evaluation” approach, which prioritizes using knowledge for improvement. Author: Innovation Network Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Nov 1, 2009 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Download (1.17 MB) -
Pathfinder: Resource List This annotated bibliography is meant to accompany Innovation Network's Pathfinder: A Practical Guide to Advocacy Evaluation series. It includes resources for each of the topics covered in Pathfinder. Author: Innovation Network, Inc. Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Nov 3, 2009 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Download (211.66 KB) -
Report: "Ten Considerations for Advocacy Evaluation Planning: Lessons Learned from KIDS COUNT Grantee Experiences" The Annie E. Casey Foundation and Organizational Research Services, Inc. detail ten lessons learned from an evaluation of five KIDS COUNT grantees that began in 2007. The evaluation was designed to test some of the ideas presented in "A Guide to Measuring Advocacy and Policy", a report produced by AECF and ORS in 2006. Author: Organizational Research Services Type: Research & Reports Date: Jan 1, 2009 Be the first to review this resource! Download (289.93 KB) -
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) -
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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System Mapping: A Case Example Innovation Network's Ehren Reed introduced this handout at a panel titled "Body of Evidence or Firsthand Experience? Evaluation of Two Concurrent and Overlapping Advocacy Initiatives" at the 2009 American Evaluation Association conference. The handout demonstrates the concept of system mapping using a simplified version of a map produced as part of an advocacy evaluation capacity building project for CARE USA.
Author: Innovation Network, Inc. Type: Templates & Samples Date: Nov 1, 2009 Be the first to review this resource! Download (143.92 KB) -
Tips for Evaluating Advocacy: A Checklist for Grantees Alliance for Justice produced this one-page checklist that has seven tips for grantees on how to evaluate advocacy.
Author: Alliance for Justice Type: Tipsheets & Paper Tools Date: Jul 18, 2007 Be the first to review this resource! Download (36.37 KB) -
Tips for Evaluating Advocacy: A Checklist for Grantmaking Organizations Alliance for Justice produced this one-page checklist that has seven tips for grantmaking organizations on how to evaluate advocacy. Author: Alliance for Justice Type: Tipsheets & Paper Tools Date: Jul 18, 2007 Be the first to review this resource! Download (34.37 KB) -
Understanding the Public Policy Landscape: Lessons from a Retrospective Evaluation (Presentation handout) This handout accompanied a presentation at the American Evaluation Association's annual conference in October 2013 in Washington, DC.
Author: Veena Pankaj and Kat Athanasiades, Innovation NetworkType: Tipsheets & Paper Tools Date: Oct 16, 2013 Be the first to review this resource! Download (387.9 KB) -
Understanding the Public Policy Landscape: Lessons from a Retrospective Evaluation (Presentation slides) These slides accompanied a presentation at the American Evaluation Association's annual conference in October 2013 in Washington, DC.
Author: Veena Pankaj and Kat Athanasiades, Innovation NetworkType: Presentation Slides Date: Oct 16, 2013 Be the first to review this resource! Download (1.41 MB) -
Unique Methods in Advocacy Evaluation This brief describes four new methods developed to respond to advocacy’s unique measurement challenges:
- Bellwether Methodology
- Policymaker Ratings
- Intense Period Debriefs
- System Mapping
It was authored by Ehren Reed of Innovation Network and Julia Coffman, an evaluation consultant, with the support of The California Endowment. They first presented this brief at the Advocacy Evaluation Advances convening in Los Angeles, CA in January, 2009.
Author: Coffman, Julia; Reed, Ehren Type: Research & Reports Date: Jan 1, 2009
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What's different about evaluating advocacy and policy change? In this article from The Evaluation Exchange, Julia Coffman highlights the differences inherent in evaluating advocacy and policy change, and offers recommendations for evaluators who work in the advocacy and policy change field. Author: Julia Coffman Type: Newsletters & Periodicals Date: Mar 1, 2007
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