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 Ian David Moss, Julia Coffman, Tanya Beer

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.

By Alnoor Ebrahim

publication Feb 2020

Upcoming Changes for the Evaluation Roundtable

The Evaluation Roundtable's goal, model, and leadership will be changing in 2020.

By Julia Coffman

event Feb 2020

Benchmarking Foundation Evaluation Practices (2020)

This session was for a group of evaluation and learning leaders from foundations in the New York City area.

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 Dec 2019

The Realm of Possibility in Evaluation

It is possible to get more from evaluation, and it starts by challenging our own habits.

By Mariah Brothe Gantz

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

Ties That Bind: A Values-Driven Approach to Evolving Evaluative Practice

A growing number of new initiatives are seeking to transform philanthropic evaluation in ways that can better support them and the social change they are after. We represent three of these efforts.

By Meg Long, Julia Coffman, Jara Dean-Coffey, Clare Nolan

insight Oct 2019

Equitable Evaluation Framework Applies to all Evaluation

It can be hard to understand how equitable evaluation applies to any evaluation, even for strategies that do not explicitly focus on advancing equity. Julia Coffman writes about her “aha” moment, when she realized that equitable evaluation should be at the center of all of her work.

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