Browse funders Resources
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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) -
All About Marketing The marketing section of Carter McNamara's Free Management Library covers the following marketing topics:
- Basics and Planning,
- Inbound Marketing,
- Outbound Marketing,
- Protecting Ownership of Your Products/Services,
- Evaluating Your Marketing Efforts, and
- Marketing On Telephone and/or Online.
Author: McNamara, Carter (ed.) Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Jan 18, 2008 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
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) -
An Advocate’s Perspective: Ten Considerations for Effective Advocacy Evaluation Ted Lempert, president of the Oakland, California-based advocacy and research organization Children Now, provides his ten considerations for effective advocacy evaluation. Lempert presented this document at the Advocacy Evaluation Advances convening in Los Angeles in January, 2009.
Do you agree with these ten considerations? Should something be added to this list? Please use the comment section below to contribute to the discussion.
Author: Lempert, Ted Type: Tipsheets & Paper Tools Date: Jan 20, 2009 Be the first to review this resource! Download (66.81 KB) -
An Ecological Understanding of Evaluation Use: A Case Study of the Active for Life Evaluation This document presents a case study of use of an evaluation of Active for Life: Increasing Physical Activity Levels in Adults Age 50 and Older a program sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). The breadth of both the program and the evaluation created additional ways of thinking about evaluation use–what it looks like, where you find it and how to connect it.
Author: Judith Ottoson and Diane Martinez, Type: Research & Reports Date: Jun 1, 2010 Be the first to review this resource! Download (847.79 KB) -
Are We There Yet? A Communications Evaluation Guide Produced by Asibey Consulting for The Communications Network, this report was created for philanthropic organizations and nonprofits seeking to evaluate and improve their communications. The authors conducted surveys and interviews to examine current practices in communications evaluation. This document includes several worksheets to help readers take action on the report's recommendations. Author: Asibey Consulting and The Communications Network Type: Research & Reports Date: Jan 1, 2008
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Ask the Expert: An Introduction to Theory of Change In this article from The Evaluation Exchange, Andrea Anderson, a research associate at the Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change, shares an introduction to theory of change and steps for creating a theory of change. Author: Erin Harris, HFRP Type: Newsletters & Periodicals Date: Nov 4, 2009 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 and Evaluating Change in Advocacy Fields This white paper aims to bring together emerging ideas about how to assess advocacy fields and evaluate advocacy field building initiatives. Dr. Lynn and other evaluators have developed a core set of dimensions to help organize thinking about these complex advocacy fields, and have begun experimenting with indicators of a strong field, tools for assessing the baseline of a field, and strategies for measuring change in fields. This paper seeks to test and refine some of these ideas.Author: Dr. Jewlya Lynn Type: Research & Reports Date: Sep 1, 2014 Be the first to review this resource! Download (790.23 KB) -
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 the Capacity of Community Coalitions to Advocate for Change (Presentation Handout) Research has shown that high-capacity coalitions are more successful in effecting community change. While a number of coalition assessment tools have been developed, documentation is scarce regarding how they are implemented, how the results are used, and whether they are predictive of coalition success in collaborative community change efforts.
Author: Veena Pankaj, Kat Athanasiades, Ann Emery, Johanna Morariu Type: Presentation Slides Date: May 22, 2013 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Download (377.49 KB) -
Assessing to Achieve High Performance: What Nonprofits Are Doing and How Foundations Can Help The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) wanted to understand the state of performance assessment practice among nonprofits to help foundations target support where it is most needed. Author: The Center for Effective Philanthropy Type: Research & Reports Date: Apr 1, 2015 Be the first to review this resource! Download (1.49 MB) -
Atlantic Reports: Investing in Change: Why Supporting Advocacy Makes Sense for Foundations This report, the first in the "Atlantic Reports" series, focuses on grantmaking in support of advocacy. The report explains why The Atlantic Philanthropies, based in Bermuda, and other funders "commit to advocacy as strategy to advance social change." The report highlights the advocacy grantmaking experiences of Atlantic and "other foundations in the U.S. and around the world." Author: The Atlantic Philanthropies Type: Research & Reports Date: May 1, 2008
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Banning Junk Food and Soda Sales in the State's Public Schools This report describes advocates' struggle in California to ban junk food and soda sales in public schools. The authors highlight successes, failures, and turning points of the effort, culminating in the 2005 Governor’s Summit on Health, Nutrition and Obesity. Author: Isaacs, Stephen and Swartz, Ava Type: Research & Reports Date: Oct 1, 2006 Be the first to review this resource! Download (325.71 KB) -
Beneficial Tips on Designing a Non-Profit Website This checklist, developed by web designer Shay Howe, provides a good overview of what to consider when designing (or redesigning) a nonprofit website. Author: Shay Howe Type: Tipsheets & Paper Tools Date: Sep 14, 2009 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Best Practices for Advocacy The ACTION Project, a group of partners in seven countries that advocate for tuberculosis control, produced this document to highlight lessons learned from its advocacy successes. Note: This is not an evaluation focused publication, but elements of it (e.g., Chapter 2) do relate to evaluation. Author: ACTION: Advocacy to Control Tuberculosis Internationally Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Nov 1, 2007
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Big Issues, Many Questions What it takes for a foundation to be effective is difficult to master, yet timeless. At the same time, however, there are current trends that foundation leaders and boards must pay attention to if they want to be as effective as possible.In this essay, Big Issues, Many Questions, CEP President Phil Buchanan explores the five most pressing issues facing U.S. foundations in 2016.Author: The Center for Effective Philanthropy Type: Research & Reports Date: Apr 1, 2016 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Blog: "Monitoring and Evaluation NEWS" Monitoring and Evaluation NEWS is a frequently-updated blog / news website managed by Rick Davies in the UK. The site focuses on M&E methods for aid / development programs, and includes news, opinion, jobs, and events.
Author: Davies, Rick Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Jan 1, 1997 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
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) -
Building a Culture of Evaluation: 30 Ideas to Apply to Your Organization This fun infographic by Community Solutions shows 30 ways to build a culture of evaluation into your organization. Examples include starting with simple evaluations to demonstrate benefits and worth, positioning evaluation as a way of giving staff a voice, and scheduling time up front in the program planning phase to discuss evaluation.
Author: Community Solutions Type: Tipsheets & Paper Tools Date: Jan 1, 2011 Be the first to review this resource! Download (148.96 KB) -
Building and Sustaining Stakeholder Engagement This resource from Abindaer Group gives factors and suggestion to consider when convening a Stakeholder Group such as an Advisory Group, Workgroup, or Steering Committee. These suggestions help maximize the group’s engagement in and commitment to the process while promoting synergistic exchange.Author: Abinader Group Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Jan 1, 2013 Be the first to review this resource! Download (868.24 KB) -
Building Capacity to Measure and Manage Performance This article explores what it takes to build the capacity for measuring and managing performance. It is written for nonprofits
Author: Matthew Forti & Kathleen Yazbak Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Apr 14, 2012 Be the first to review this resource! Download (188.43 KB) -
Capaciteria Capaciteria is a community site for nonprofit capacity building. A free membership gives you access to a broad collection of capacity-building resources (over 3400 links!). The site encourages rating of resources and forum discussions, but it looks like those features aren't being fully used. Still, there's a lot of knowledge here. Author: Internaut Consulting Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Jan 18, 2008
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Catalog of Nonprofit Literature Catalog of Nonprofit Literature is a searchable database of the literature of philanthropy. It incorporates the unique contents of the Foundation Center's five libraries and contains 25,000 full bibliographic citations, of which more than 17,000 have descriptive abstracts. It is updated daily. Author: Foundation Center Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Jan 18, 2008 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest (CLPI) CLPI promotes, supports, and protects the role of lobbying in the work of U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofits. This webpage provides basic information, FAQs, and publications. Author: Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest (CLPI) Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Jan 18, 2008 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link