Browse funders Resources
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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) -
Evaluating System Change: A Planning Guide This methods brief provides guidance on planning effective evaluations of system change interventions. It begins with a general overview of systems theory and then outlines a three-part process for designing system change evaluations. This three-part process aligns (1) the dynamics of the targeted system or situation, (2) the dynamics of the system change intervention, and (3) the intended purpose(s) and methods of the evaluation.
Author: Margaret B. Hargreaves Type: Research & Reports Date: Apr 1, 2010 Be the first to review this resource! Download (1.63 MB) -
Evaluating the Effectiveness of DFID's Influence with Multilaterals This report is based on investigations carried out over five weeks involving approximately 40 organizations in the international NGO community. The report covers four main topics
Author: Davies, Rick Type: Research & Reports Date: Aug 1, 2001 Be the first to review this resource! Download (436.5 KB) -
Evaluation Capacity Building: Examples and Lessons from the Field 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! Web Link -
EVALUATION CAPACITY BUILDING: Funder Initiatives to Strengthen Grantee Evaluation Capacity and Practice Evaluation Capacity Building (ECB) is the process of improving an organization’s ability to use evaluation to learn from its work and improve results. Organizational learning is incredibly important. Organizations that are adept at learning from mistakes and adapting to new challenges are more likely to be successful, and in the nonprofit sector, more likely to make significant progress toward mission-related outcomes. In general, ECB can be used to:
Author: Myia Welsh and Johanna Morariu Type: Research & Reports Date: Jun 15, 2011 Be the first to review this resource! Download (248.37 KB) -
Evaluation Concepts Mindmap The Evaluation Concepts Mindmap is a visual showing different considerations in evaluation, such as assessment types, evaluation cycle, and data collection, and the components of those considerations. This is a useful tool for evaluation planning, as well as for gaining a broad perspective of what is important in the field of evaluation—all on one page. Author: Johanna Morariu, Innovation Network Type: Tipsheets & Paper Tools Date: Mar 28, 2013 Point K Pick
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Evaluation Contracts Checklist Dr. Daniel Stufflebeam, founder of Western Michigan University’s The Evaluation Center, created this checklist for coming to agreement on an evaluation contract. This resource is particularly helpful for funder and practioners preparing for the first time to work with an external evaluator. Author: Daniel Stufflebeam Type: Tipsheets & Paper Tools Date: Jan 1, 1999 Be the first to review this resource! Download (26.51 KB) -
Evaluation for Strategic Learning: Readiness and Results This brief explores organizational preparedness and situational suitability for evaluation that supports strategic learning. It also explores how to understand if this type of evaluation is working. The brief is based on literature review, expert interviews, and the author’s own experiences. Short case examples at the end bring the ideas and concepts to life. Author: Center for Evaluation Innovation Type: Research & Reports Date: Mar 1, 2014 Be the first to review this resource! Download (165.16 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) -
Evaluation Handbook This 116-page .pdf handbook, written for evaluation novices, provides a framework for thinking about evaluation as a relevant and useful program tool. Author: W.K. Kellogg Foundation Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Jan 1, 1998 Be the first to review this resource! Download (354.1 KB) -
Evaluation Needs Assessment The Evaluation Needs Assessment was created for use with a grantee cohort of twelve organizations, which received grant support and capacity building services for a period of three years.Directions: Share the tool in advance of an in-person meeting to allow for preparation. Meet to discuss an organization’s existing evaluation practice and goals for improvement. Seek mutual agreement of the evaluation capacity provider and grantee regarding how to apply evaluation technical assistance.Author: Johanna Morariu Type: Tipsheets & Paper Tools Date: Apr 25, 2011 Be the first to review this resource! Download (215.84 KB) -
Evaluation of PEPFAR Through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the United States has provided an unprecedented level of health and development assistance and health diplomacy around the world.
Author: Institute of Medicine of the National Academies Type: Research & Reports Date: Feb 1, 2013 Be the first to review this resource! Download (761.22 KB) -
Evaluation Principles and Practices: An Internal Working Paper The purpose of this document is to advance the Foundation’s existing work so that our evaluation practices become more consistent across the organization. We hope to create more common understanding of our philosophy, purpose, and expectations regarding evaluation as well as clarify staff roles and available support. With more consistency and shared understanding, we expect less wheel re-creation across program areas, greater learning from each other’s efforts, and faster progress in designing meaningful evaluations and applying the results.
Author: Fay Twersky & Karen Lindblom Type: Research & Reports Date: Jan 22, 2013 Be the first to review this resource! Download (1.42 MB) -
Evaluation to Support Strategic Learning: Principles and Practices Evaluation that supports strategic learning is an area that the Center for Evaluation Innovation is helping to develop and grow. Working with organizations and groups to integrate evaluative thinking into their strategic decision making and bring timely data to the table for reflection and use has tremendous potential as an approach to evaluation, particularly for complex and dynamic social change strategies.
Author: Julia Coffman & Tanya Beer Type: Research & Reports Date: Jun 1, 2011 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Download (106.64 KB) -
Evaluation: Finding a Common Ground [Slides] While common frameworks and approaches for evaluation have been developed across multiple fields, regional associations for grantmakers have, for the most part, been left out of this dialogue.The purpose of this session is to highlight the common threads that distinguish regional associations from other organizational genres in the social sector. Regional associations promote effectiveness in philanthropy by providing grantmakers with opportunities to engage with others, share ideas, and generate best practices that support both the individual and collective impact of philanthropy.
Author: Veena Pankaj and Ann K. Emery Type: Presentation Slides Date: Jul 30, 2013 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Failing to learn and learning to fail (intelligently): How great organizations put failure to work to improve and innovate The paper provides insight into what makes learning from failure so difficult to put into practice. The authors address the question of why organizations fail to learn from failure. They identify pernicious barriers embedded in both technical and social systems that make collective learning processes unusual in organizations, and present recommendations for what managers can do to overcome these barriers.
Author: Mark D. Cannon and Amy C. Edmondson Type: Research & Reports Date: Feb 5, 2004 Be the first to review this resource! Download (388.5 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) -
Funder Collaboratives: Why and How Funders Work Together When it comes to funder collaboratives, is the whole truly greater than the sum of its parts? Can foundations make a bigger impact with grant dollars by working together than by going it alone? Yes, grantmakers say, as long as members define their goals, set clear operational guidelines, and work from the start to make the collaborative function well for grantees. In this guide, contributors share strategies for structuring a collaborative to fit its purpose, building strong relationships and resolving conflicts, and figuring out if the collaborative you're in is working. Author: Grantcraft Type: Research & Reports Date: Jan 1, 2010 Be the first to review this resource! Download (306.83 KB) -
Funder Discussion Guide: Advocacy, Politics & Philanthropy In funding advocacy, foundations sometimes confront questions such as What’s a promising strategic focus?, How to integrate grassroots and grasstops advocacy?, orAuthor: Innovation Network and Atlantic Philanthropies
Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Mar 1, 2016 Be the first to review this resource! Download (684.33 KB) -
Funder Discussion Guide: Advocacy, Politics & Philanthropy In funding advocacy, foundations sometimes confront questions such as What’s a promising strategic focus?, How to integrate grassroots and grasstops advocacy?, or How to empower advocates in planning and funding decisions? Over the course of a 10-year effort to comprehensively reform the U.S. immigration system, Atlantic faced similar choices.Author: Johanna Morariu, Kat Athanasiades, Veena Pankaj Type: Research & Reports Date: Mar 31, 2016 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Download (684.33 KB) -
Global Program Advocacy Grants: What Do They Tell Us About Evaluating Advocacy? Oxfam America (OA) funds a number of grants that explicitly aim to carry out advocacy work. Looking at thirty grant proposals (ten each from Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, and Central and South America), the author explores the variety of advocacy targets, tactics, expected outcomes, and proposed monitoring and evaluation methodologies. The report concludes with four broad implications about institutional vs. individual impact, diversity of strategies, classification of outcomes, and capacity issues. Author: Ng, Sandra N.W. Type: Research & Reports Date: Oct 1, 2000 Be the first to review this resource! Download (314.91 KB) -
Guidance Note #1: Introduction to Impact Evaluation This is the first guidance note in a four-part series of notes related to impact evaluation developed by InterAction with financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation.This first guidance note, Introduction to Impact Evaluation, provides an overview of impact evaluation, explaining how impact evaluation differs from – and complements – other types of evaluation, why impact evaluation should be done, when and by whom.
Author: Patricia J. Rogers Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Mar 12, 2012 Be the first to review this resource! Download (1.68 MB) -
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 #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) -
Guide to Strategic Planning The strategic planning section of Carter McNamara's Free Management Library covers the following topics:
- Recommended Approach
- Benefits;
- When Should Strategic Planning Be Done?
- Overviews
- Preparation for Strategic Planning
- Strategic Analysis
- Setting Strategic Direction
- Action Planning
- Writing and Communicating the Plan; and
- Monitoring, Evaluating and Deviating from the Plan.
Author: McNamara, Carter (ed.) Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Jan 18, 2008 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link