Center for Evaluation Innovation

📣 Announcing the 2023 Benchmarking Foundation Learning and Evaluation Practices Report! This year’s report comes at a critical moment: Foundations across the country are changing how they work to be equitable, trust-based, and community-centered. Learning and evaluation practices are no different. We surveyed over 100 foundations to explore evaluation and learning practices across the philanthropic sector. Our research showed that while foundations are making strides to strengthen diversity and equity efforts, more work remains. Access the full 2023 Benchmarking Report to learn more ⬇️   https://lnkd.in/dJgEsYXJ

Goodbye, 2024! This year has definitely been one for the books. We have welcomed the brilliant Hanh Cao Yu as our new Executive Director and saying farewell to our incredible founder, Julia Coffman, as she steps into her next adventure. Our work this year has been deep, collaborative, difficult, and joyful. So as we wind down this year, we are reminded of this necessary lesson from Tricia Hersey's Rest is Resistance. With this in mind, CEI will be closed from December 23 through January 3. We also spend the first two weeks of every new year engaging in independent study—refraining from meetings, formal obligations, and emails so that we can step into the year with intention, clarity, and spaciousness. See you all in 2025 ✌️

At the beginning of this year, we knew we wanted to celebrate CEI's 15th anniversary with something special. Field building, collaboration, and knowledge sharing has always been core to our organizational mission, so it was only right, then, that we celebrate our anniversary by sharing our favorite resources. This is our final reflection for 2024, and we are so excited to highlight this new Learning Framework from Kecia Bertermann & Julia Coffman. In this reflection, Kayla Christopherson shares what makes this framework particularly timely and pragmatic, and what we see for the future of systems change. Thank you to everyone who has supported and collaborated with us over the years. We couldn't be more thankful for each of you and cannot wait to see where the next 15 years takes us!

👀 SSIR just announced their top 10 most popular articles of 2024. Spoiler alert: trust-based philanthropy is trending! We were thrilled to see two of the top ten articles were penned by TBP ambassadors (we're looking at you, Sonya Crespo Childress and Stacey Faella!). We're also particularly proud that our supplement, "The Future of Philanthropy is Trust-Based", got an honorable mention! ✨ Read the top ten list here --> https://lnkd.in/eYrAQs69 Read "The Future of Philanthropy is Trust-Based" here --> https://lnkd.in/eaQTUnNx #trustbasedphilanthropy

🥁🥁🥁 Introducing our newly revamped guide, Dabbling in the Data: A Hands On Guide to Participatory Data Analysis! 👉https://lnkd.in/gSen2xhQ Dabbling is a free tool providing step-by-step guidance on interactive, practical techniques to help you make meaning of data. 💡📊 We've updated the guide to include 10 fresh activities, virtual adaptations, and connections to #Inclusive and #Equitable learning practices. You'll also find Playlists, our suggested activity combinations for certain situations, like conducting a needs & assets assessment. 👉https://lnkd.in/gSen2xhQ #Evaluation #Data #DataAnalysis #NonProfit #DataEquity #Learning [ Interested in bringing Dabbling to your organization? We offer custom workshops! Submit an inquiry to learn more https://lnkd.in/gtHnxGHW ]

We’re excited to share a new report we’ve been working on in collaboration with RWJF. The report explores what is known about how direct service organizations serving families--or family-serving organizations (FSOs)--are centering families’ needs and aspirations in policy and systems change work. As a team who strives to center the voices of those closest to issues, we’re grateful to have had the opportunity to work on this project. We hope it can offer others some insight on how organizations not always recognized as active players in the advocacy space are engaging their communities and participating in policy and systems change. 🔗 You can learn more about the project, stay up to date, and read the full report on our project website: https://lnkd.in/gj-wuWSX 🔔 Stay tuned for updates and the next phase of this project! #SystemsChange #Policy #DirectService #Families #Research #Report #Funding #Philanthropy

We continue to celebrate 15 of our favorite resources in honor of CEI's 15th anniversary. In our penultimate reflection, Albertina Lopez, PhD brings to the table a more timely than ever piece from 2020: Why is Evaluation So White?

 When doing MEL (monitoring, evaluation and Learning) in complex systems, predictability and emergence are not opposites but part of a continuum—and the two paradigms can complement each other when applied purposefully. This was the focus of the latest UNDP Monitoring and Evaluation Sandbox session, led by Katherine Haugh of the The Convive Collective, along with experts Howard White and Tibemanya Ivan. There were many gems in this session, but the continuum idea stood out to me. 🟧 The predictability paradigm in MEL focuses on measuring the achievement of predefined results through structured strategies, using tools like logic models and theories of change that remain more or less static, focusing on short-term goals and measurable outcomes. ⬛ The emergence paradigm prioritizes learning and adapting in dynamic systems, using tools like developmental evaluation and process tracing to foster experimentation, flexibility, and long-term change. The provocation to draw from both resonates because it reflects the realities of doing MEL in real life: pressures to secure funding, small teams with ambitious goals and small budgets, and rapidly evolving contexts. In these scenarios, change-makers and MEL practitioners need the freedom to think creatively about what is meaningful and what is feasible, rather than what paradigm is best. This session was packed with practical insights and tools. Catch the recording here: https://lnkd.in/gTAsepqs Also, the UNDP Monitoring and Evaluation Sandbox [https://lnkd.in/gPNHdcuJ] is a great hub for accessible, actionable resources and thought-provoking dialogue for MEL practitioners. Image credits: The Convive Collective (drawing on the work of Jewlya Lynn and Julia Coffman)

Happening today! What a brilliant line-up ✨ Learn more and register for this free webinar here: https://lnkd.in/dKdwdra4

Did you know 🤔 Our recent 2023 Benchmarking report revealed that nearly 1 in 4 survey respondents reported that their foundation works in partnership with grantees and communities to decide what programmatic success looks like. Our report findings point to an increase in efforts to center equity in the philanthropic sector as well as identify significant opportunities to implement solutions that can further push philanthropy to become a more equitable sector. Read more in the full report: https://lnkd.in/dJgEsYXJ