Browse strategies Resources
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Funder Collaboratives: Why and How Funders Work Together When it comes to funder collaboratives, is the whole truly greater than the sum of its parts? Can foundations make a bigger impact with grant dollars by working together than by going it alone? Yes, grantmakers say, as long as members define their goals, set clear operational guidelines, and work from the start to make the collaborative function well for grantees. In this guide, contributors share strategies for structuring a collaborative to fit its purpose, building strong relationships and resolving conflicts, and figuring out if the collaborative you're in is working. Author: Grantcraft Type: Research & Reports Date: Jan 1, 2010 Be the first to review this resource! Download (306.83 KB) -
Global Program Advocacy Grants: What Do They Tell Us About Evaluating Advocacy? Oxfam America (OA) funds a number of grants that explicitly aim to carry out advocacy work. Looking at thirty grant proposals (ten each from Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, and Central and South America), the author explores the variety of advocacy targets, tactics, expected outcomes, and proposed monitoring and evaluation methodologies. The report concludes with four broad implications about institutional vs. individual impact, diversity of strategies, classification of outcomes, and capacity issues. Author: Ng, Sandra N.W. Type: Research & Reports Date: Oct 1, 2000 Be the first to review this resource! Download (314.91 KB) -
grassrootsfundraising.org The Grassroots Fundraising website helps nonprofits diversify their fundraising strategies. The site offers some free resources including articles on fundraising basics, an e-newsletter, and an advice column facilitated by the site's emeritus publisher, Kim Klein. (The site's flagship publication, Grassroots Fundraising Journal, is a subscription-based magazine, with back issues and articles available for a small fee.) Author: Roth, Stephanie (ed.) Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Jan 18, 2008 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Guidelines for Evaluating Non-Profit Communications Efforts The Communications Consortium Media Center has been engaged in its Media Evaluation Project since 2002, providing a review of current communications evaluation in the nonprofit world and the social science of communications strategies. The project produced four working papers by experts from the Berkeley Media Studies Group, Harvard Family Research Project and Michigan State University. These papers served as the research base for "Guidelines for Evaluating Non-Profit Communications Efforts." This working paper summarizes the project's findings and offers guidelines for the eva Author: Communications Consortium Media Center Type: Research & Reports Date: Apr 1, 2004 Be the first to review this resource! Download (113.86 KB) -
Guiding Principles for Advocacy Grantmaking As more funders turn to advocacy and policy change strategies, they want to know what works. Instead of starting from scratch, people want to know what approaches and principles show promise. In the past year alone, four helpful resources were written to advise funders on issues related to advocacy and evaluation. These four complementary resources have been synthesized and streamlined to provide a holistic reference for what makes an effective advocacy funder. Author: Johanna Morariu, M.A. Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Sep 14, 2010 Point K Pick
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Juvenile Justice Evaluation Center - Program Evaluation Briefing Series This Program Evaluation Briefing Series includes several documents:
Author: Justice Research and Statistics Association Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Dec 31, 2004 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
LITERATURE REVIEW ON EFFECTIVENESS OF THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA This report examines the broader utility of social media for the adoption of health promoting and protective behaviours.
Author: Rebecca Schein, Kumanan Wilson, Jennifer Keelan Type: Research & Reports Date: Jan 1, 2011 Be the first to review this resource! Download (1023.3 KB) -
Make a Difference for Your Cause: Strategies for Nonprofit Engagement in Legislative Advocacy CLPI developed this resource and discussion guide to motivate 501(c)(3) nonprofits in the U.S. to include legislative advocacy as a part of their core activities. Author: Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest ("CLPI") Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Jan 1, 2006 Be the first to review this resource! Download (2.66 MB) -
Movement Building Indicators This tool supports organizations in their strategic thinking around planning and assessing movement building work. It rejects the notion that there is a one-size-fits-all approach to assessing change strategies, and pays attention to the processes that need to be put in place and the contributions of groups who are working deeply rather than at a scale of mass mobilization.
Four key areas of movement building are addressed:
- Policy Change
- Leadership Development
- Communications
- Relationship Building.Author: Maria Nakae, Moira Cowman, and Eveline Shen Type: Tipsheets & Paper Tools Date: Dec 31, 2009 Be the first to review this resource! Download (10.59 MB) -
Participatory Asset Mapping Toolkit Healthy City supports communities in identifying, organizing, and sharing its collective voice with decision makers at the local and state levels. Through their Community Research Lab, Healthy City share best practices and methods for Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) interested in supporting their strategies with research that combines community knowledge with Healthy City technologies. Toward this aim, they have developed the Community Research Lab Toolbox. The toolbox presents research concepts, methods, and tools through topical guides and toolkits. Author: Healthy City Type: Tipsheets & Paper Tools Date: Apr 8, 2012
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Philanthropic Strategies and Tactics for Change: A Concise Framework This article discusses the various tactics grantmakers rely on to create impact. The author describes theories of change, theories of leverage, programmatic tactics, and grantmaking tactics. Within programmatic tactics he discusses the need for evaluations to allow for ongoing program adjustments and to inform future efforts. Author: Frumkin, Peter Type: Research & Reports Date: Aug 31, 2002 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Project Evaluation Guide: Module 7, Culturally Responsive Evaluation The purpose of this module is to alert users to the importance of culturally responsive evaluation and to explain some of its key components. It discusses strategies that have been found to be useful in conducting evaluations that are responsive to all cultures.
Author: National Science Foundation Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Nov 9, 2010 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Seeing the Forest (Beyond the Trees): Learning Across the Experiences of Seven Advocacy Evaluators [Slides] Advocacy and policy change evaluation continues to evolve and mature--from a fledgling field a few years ago to the flourishing field of today. Evaluators are advancing as well, developing an increasingly robust collective understanding about what works for advocacy evaluation. In this session a diverse group of seven advocacy evaluators explored and synthesized observations drawn from an array of real-world experiences. Panelists spoke to targeted questions, weaving in their wealth of experience and examples. Author: Johanna Morariu, Jara Dean-Coffey, Tom Kelly, Claire Hutchings, David Devlin Foltz, Robin Kane, Jared Raynor, Anne Gienapp, Type: Presentation Slides Date: Oct 19, 2013 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Small Picture, Big Picture: Using the Framework for Public Policy Advocacy in a Large-Scale Advocacy Campaign We were recently tasked with guiding evaluation for a funder's national advocacy campaign, and had to make sense of advocacy data contained in 110 grants. Where did we start? Julia Coffman's Framework for Public Policy Advocacy was the perfect tool. It helped us compare strategies employed by grantees individually, as well as step back and look at strategies used across the campaign. Author: Kat Athanasiades, Veena Pankaj Type: Opinion (blog, editorial) Date: Mar 12, 2014 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Smart Chart 3.0 Spitfire Strategies produced Smart Chart (now in version 3.0) as "a tool to help nonprofits make smart communications choices." This free online tool is built around a chart with five "strategic decision sections":
Author: Spitfire Strategies Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Feb 1, 2004
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Social Movements and Philanthropy: How Foundations Can Support Movement Building Building on research conducted for the California Endowment, this article describes five core movement-building elements and provides a framework for activities that foundations can support to foster movement building. Movement building presents unique challenges to foundations. Because movements, by definition, must be driven by the people who are most affected, foundations cannot determine the goals and timetables of a movement. Foundation investments in movements are just that – investments for the long term. Author: Barbara Masters, M.A., and Torie Osborn, M.B.A. Type: Newsletters & Periodicals Date: Oct 2, 2010 Be the first to review this resource! Download (326.55 KB) -
Speaking for Themselves: Advocates' Perspectives on Evaluation "Speaking for Themselves: Advocates' Perspectives on Evaluation" will give you a better understanding of advocates' views on evaluation, the advocacy strategies and capacities they find effective, and current evaluation practices. Based on Innovation's Network's research, the report includes recommendations for advocates, funders, and evaluators. Both the research and publication were made possible by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and The Atlantic Philanthropies. Author: Innovation Network, Inc. Type: Research & Reports Date: Aug 12, 2008 Point K Pick
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State of Evaluation in the Social Sector Measurement, evaluation, and learning are hotter than ever in the social sector. Foundations and nonprofits are focused on answering the question What difference are we making? And the field of evaluation has advanced in promising ways, developing meaningful evaluation approaches to better fit the latest philanthropic and nonprofit strategies. Author: Johanna Morariu and Will Fenn Type: Templates & Samples Date: Mar 21, 2013 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
StrategicEdSolutions.org The StrategicEdSolutions.org website shares education strategies, programs, and resources that work. The site features case studies and research from high-performing education programs, and provides a forum for searching and submitting programs and tools. The website is a project of the Business Higher Education Forum in Washington, D.C. Author: Business Higher Education Forum Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Sep 17, 2008 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Strategy Development: Key Questions for Developing an Advocacy Strategy In this strategy discussion publication, the author clarifies the difference between tactics and strategies, and offers nine questions that are part of an effective strategy:
- OBJECTIVES: What do you want?
- AUDIENCES: Who can give it to you?
- MESSAGE: What do they need to hear?
- MESSENGERS: Who do they need to hear it from?
- RESOURCES: What have we got?
- GAPS: What do we need to develop?
- FIRST EFFORTS: How do we begin?
- EVALUATION: How do we tell if it's working?
Author: Shultz, Jim Type: Research & Reports Date: Jan 1, 2004 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Strengthening Anti-Hunger Advocacy in California: Evaluation of the California Nutrition Initiative 1998-2001 MAZON launched the California Nutrition Initiative (CNI) in 1998. The CNI’s purpose was "to improve the nutritional health and well-being of low-income Californians by strengthening the capacity of the state’s non-profit and anti-hunger network." This evaluation report on the projects first four years identifies strategies that could be used to replicate MAZON's successes, including network development and awareness-building. Author: Leventhal/Kline Management Inc. Type: Research & Reports Date: Jun 1, 2003 Be the first to review this resource! Download (1.32 MB) -
Ten Strategies for Enhancing Multicultural Competency in Evaluation Teresa Boyd Cowles of the Connecticut Department of Education offers 10 strategies evaluators can use to improve their cultural competence for evaluation. Author: Teresa Boyd Cowles Type: Newsletters & Periodicals Date: Jun 30, 2005 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
The Advocacy Strategy Framework This brief offers a simple one-page tool for thinking about the theories of change that underlie public policy advocacy strategies.
It first presents the tool and then offers six questions that advocates, and funders working with advocates, can work through to better articulate their theories of change. The tool—labeled the advocacy strategy framework—has several advantages over more familiar linear box-and-arrow theory-of-change tools:
Author: Julia Coffman and Tanya Beer Type: Research & Reports Date: Mar 1, 2015 Be the first to review this resource! Download (365.89 KB) -
The Challenge of Assessing Policy and Advocacy Activities The paper is designed to outline an approach to policy change evaluation grounded in the experience of experts and foundation colleagues. (See Appendix A for the research methodology.) This paper first posits three key priorities in evaluating policy change work, drawn from interviews with grantees and staff from The California Endowment on their needs concerning policy change evaluation. It also discusses the challenges inherent in monitoring and assessing these types of grants.
Author: Commissioned by The California Endowment. Researched and Written by Blueprint Research and Design, Inc. Type: Research & Reports Date: Oct 1, 2005 Be the first to review this resource! Download (2.84 MB) -
The Challenge of Assessing Policy and Advocacy Activities: Part II - Moving from Theory to Practice This report synthesizes the results of a series of discussions that were a response to Blueprint's October 2005 report, "The Challenge of Assessing Policy and Advocacy Activities: Strategies for a Prospective Evaluation Approach" (q.v.) The discussions centered on three key themes of the 2005 publication:
- developing a theory of change,
- defining benchmarks and indicators and collecting data, and
- using findings.
This report is organized into two broad sections:
Author: Blueprint Research & Design Type: Research & Reports Date: Oct 1, 2006
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