Search Results

presentation Jul 2020

Re-Thinking How We Work with Foundation Trustees on Evaluation and Learning

One of the things that routinely gets in the way of foundations having a learning culture is what happens when staff and boards engage. The problem is that most of the routines in the board room are actually based on the mental model that social change is a technocratic problem-solving endeavor. So what happens—in the ways that artifacts get exchanged with boards, and in the ways that board conversations get set up—is that we incentivize and reward staff who project a degree of certainty about how social change happens that's just not real because the change process is much more complex.

By Tanya Beer

publication Mar 2020

Smart Decision-Making

Even when evidence is available in the social sector, it is rarely used. A number of tools and tactics can help us become savvier consumers of information.

By Tanya Beer, Julia Coffman

presentation Feb 2020

Performance Measurement for Emergent and Complex Strategies [Webinar]

Learn about four types of strategies—niche, integrated, emergent, and ecosystem—and the types of performance measurement and accountability systems best suited to each.

publication Jan 2020

Benchmarking Foundation Evaluation Practices 2020

What does foundation evaluation look like today? Is it adapting to meet the changing needs of the sector and society?

By Tanya Beer, Mariah Brothe Gantz, Kat Athanasiades, Julia Coffman, Albertina Lopez

insight Oct 2019

How Leaders Affect Evaluation Capacity Building in Foundations

Regardless of intent, foundation leaders can substantially harm or strengthen evaluation capacity building in their organizations. We can add value if we know how and why.

By Albertina Lopez

insight Oct 2019

Funders are from Mars, Consultants are from Venus

If we want evaluation to add real value to social change efforts, both funders and evaluation consultants have to re-examine their roles and how they relate.

By Julia Coffman

insight Oct 2019

What Will it Take for Philanthropy to Learn?

Learning leaders from fourteen foundations participated in a year-long "Lab for Learning" to experiment with and test ideas for supporting learning in foundations. Several “ground truths” guided this work.

By Tanya Beer, Julia Coffman, Jane Reisman, Haley Millet, Aparna Rae

presentation Jul 2019

How to Ask Powerful Questions [Webinar]

The kinds of questions we often pose — Did the intervention work? What are we learning about a particular issue? — may lead to information that is a useful input into learning, but they often don’t help us determine what to do next. This webinar shows us how to ask questions that, if answered, will make a difference in how we do our work.

By Tanya Beer

insight Jul 2019

Are you really ready for developmental evaluation? You may have to get out of your own way.

Developmental evaluation can create anxieties and disappointments for evaluation commissioners and evaluators who apply conventional evaluation routines to an evaluation endeavor that is fundamentally different.

By Tanya Beer

event Jun 2019

Transitions and Transformations for Evaluation’s Role in Philanthropy

The 2019 Evaluation Roundtable convening explored how evaluation leaders—working within or with foundations—can manage change not just defensively, but proactively and productively.

publication Jun 2019

When Opportunity Knocks, Open the Door: Evaluation Amidst Transition at the Colorado Health Foundation

The Colorado Health Foundation experienced multiple organizational transitions in a short period of time, including two strategy redesigns, culture and values shifts, new expectations and assumption about roles and performance, and a new CEO. This teaching case invites reflection on the role of evaluation staff and consultants amidst the uncertainty and ambiguity of organizational change.

insight Jun 2018

5-A-Day: Learning By Force of Habit

Establishing a learning organization or culture is such a big goal that it can overwhelm our ability to act on it. This piece, published on Medium, explores how building learning habits into common routines makes it more manageable, and creates small wins that can lead to big change. Focusing on habits ensures that learning is not a separate activity, but rather is integrated into our day-to-day work.

By Julia Coffman