publication May 2023

Toward Power-Shifting Solidarity with Black-Led Change

This research considers the question: What will it take for institutional philanthropy in MN and beyond to move at the speed of courage and invest wholly in Black lives?

By Lulete Mola, Chanda Smith Baker, Repa Mekha, Dr. Chera Reid, Dr. Albertina Lopez, Lori Villarosa, Ben Francisco Maulbeck, Lyle Matthew Kan

insight Apr 2023

What should we benchmark about learning and evaluation work in philanthropy?

Findings from our fall listening sessions and what we will explore more deeply in our benchmarking research.

By Dr. Albertina Lopez

insight Apr 2023

Gazing inward as we align with our values

CEI is shifting how we approach our benchmarking research on learning and evaluation in philanthropy so that it can better support the sector’s efforts to advance racial equity and justice.

By Dr. Albertina Lopez

publication Feb 2023

Advocacy that Builds Parents’ Power

CEI partnered with the Center on the Ecology of Early Development to evaluate two projects that supported state policy advocates in advancing equity by centering parents in their early childhood advocacy efforts. This report offers findings on the approach states used, the progress they made, and the barriers they encountered.

By Mariah Brothe Gantz, Julia Coffman, Melly Kitenge, Dr. Stephanie Curenton-Jolly, Sheniqua Jeffrey, Laura Ottoni

publication Nov 2022

How to do Process Tracing: A Method for Testing “How Change Happened” in Complex and Dynamic Settings

Process tracing is a causal methodology that can help us to understand how change actually happened within a complex dynamic environment.

By Jewlya Lynn, Sarah Stachowiak, Jennifer Byers

event Nov 2022

AEA Conference 2022

CEI was at the 2022 American Evaluation Association conference in New Orleans, with the theme: (Re)Shaping Evaluation Together. Check out our sessions and related presentations and handouts.

insight Aug 2022

Community in Philanthropy: What it is, why we need it, and how we can build it

If we are to meet justice, then we need to hold ourselves accountable in an environment that asks very little of us, and to support and encourage each other when our surroundings try to pull us back toward a status quo.

By Albertina Lopez

publication Jul 2022

A Tool for Systems Change that Supports Learning in Foundations

Foundations are systems. They have their own cultures and related assumptions, norms, standards, and practices. We encourage foundations to take stock of their learning needs with a dispassionate (evaluative) look at themselves as systems and how people work within them.

By Julia Coffman, Jane Reisman, Tanya Beer

publication Mar 2022

Toward a Trust-Based Framework for Learning and Evaluation

What if we reimagined evaluation as an opportunity for funders to learn and evolve as stewards, rather than taking on the narrow–and virtually impossible–task of proving that limited grants make a measurable impact on longstanding, complex social issues?

By Dr. Chera Reid, Shaady Salehi

insight Feb 2022

How To Center Equity in Measurement, Learning, & Evaluation

NationSwell convened a panel of experts to talk about how organizations should think about equity when engaging with measurement, learning, and evaluation.

By Dr. Daniela Pineda, Dr. Amber Banks, Brianna Provenzano, Albertina Lopez

publication Jan 2022

Lost Causal: Debunking Myths About Causal Analysis in Philanthropy

Causal analysis is not just for controlled programmatic work, it is also for dynamic and emergent strategies that include network building, field building, advocacy, organizing, or movements.

By Jewlya Lynn, Sarah Stachowiak, Julia Coffman

publication Nov 2021

We need to articulate our assumptions so that we can test them. Here’s a guide to help.

This four-page guidance defines assumptions, explains why it is critical to articulate them, and then offers a set of prompting questions to help elicit them. Examples are included.

By Tanya Beer, Julia Coffman