Steven LaFrance - July 26, 2022

How should nonprofits begin thinking about bringing on dedicated evaluation and learning (E&L) staff? Nonprofit leaders understand that collecting and analyzing data in the service of learning is mission-critical. At the same time, many make do with program staff taking on the technical tasks of data analysis and reporting. This brief provides useful learning and practical guidance from10 years and 30+ nonprofits in the PropelNext initiative regarding how, when, in what role(s), and at what levels of compensation this group of nonprofits staffed up their E&L functions.

Nancy Latham - March 7, 2022

In 2014, California voters passed Proposition 47, the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act: a law designed to help reverse mass incarceration. While the win was thrilling, success was not guaranteed – it all depended on the law’s implementation, which was in the hands of the Board of State and Community Corrections. To ensure that the law lived up to its promise, criminal justice advocates across California mobilized to engage in implementation advocacy. Going up against an institution that has traditionally sided with law enforcement, they won. The California Endowment, recognizing the magnitude of the win, commissioned a case study to tell its story. The story is rich with insights for those studying advocacy – including the role of implementation advocacy in policy success, what power-building can look like in the context of implementation advocacy, and how advocates can use narrative strategy to challenge the status quo.

Nancy Latham - May 11, 2020

As the Covid-19 pandemic is both revealing and deepening inequities, evaluation must work in service of equity, now more than ever. One way that evaluation can center affected communities: Restructure the system so that the demand for evaluation comes from nonprofits, rather than foundations.

November 5, 2019

Find us at AEA next week, leading three sessions focused on this year’s theme, Paths to the Future of Evaluation.