Much of our work here at Informing Change is focused on civic engagement and volunteerism. Our clients utilize civic engagement strategies to develop leaders, change public policy, promote cross-sector collaboration, and more. They embrace volunteerism as a tool for social change, to improve people’s lives and to make a difference in our communities. So, it’s not a surprise that sometimes…

What a year it has been! 2013 ushered Informing Change into our new look and name, taking us across the U.S. to work with you—our clients—to advance your missions and create change. Here are some highlights of our travels and learnings. We hit the road on a three-city tour with our partner, ChangeCraft (formerly the Center for Leadership Initiatives), and…

Strong partnerships with our clients are essential to our collective success. This is especially true with long-term evaluations, which unfold over time as their focus, needs and contexts change. For these partnerships to be most effective, we have noted a few essentials ingredients. √ Essential Ingredient #1: Thought Partnership It is critical that both the client and evaluator approach one…

What It Is A theory of change is a tool to help organizations articulate their social change initiatives. A  theory of change is a clear articulation of the problem an organization or program is setting out to address; the strategies it employs to address the problem; the target constituencies (organizations and/or individuals that will be reached by the strategies); and…

I’ve always enjoyed cleaning out a messy drawer or cupboard—pulling everything out, sorting the contents by category or size, choosing which items to discard and which to keep, and then putting things back in an orderly way. Sometimes the process reveals a new way to stack or arrange things, or prompts me to acknowledge that some things no longer belong…

  Not many people know that when our founders brainstormed a name for the company, one of the options they considered was Informing Change. For me, rebranding and adopting Informing Change as our name circles back to the company’s roots and reaffirms our very purpose for being. Our purpose is the reason why I embraced the position of leading this…

Virtually everyone asks you to take a survey—your job, restaurants, stores, schools, airports and the list goes on. It’s been reported that American adults are invited to take surveys 7 billion times a year. There have even been surveys about what people think of surveys (they’re not too crazy about them)! Not too long ago, surveys were generally reserved for…

I recently attended a wonderful lecture through UC Berkeley Extension by UCB Public Health Professor William Dow. “Health Care Reform Update: Post-Affordable Care Act (ACA) Progress and Challenges” was an unexpectedly satisfying way to spend a sunny Saturday afternoon. It was a quick, digestible run-down of what health care reform entails, what’s been implemented to date and what’s coming in…

This week marks the 19th National Public Health Week, a week dedicated to recognizing the contributions of public health and ways to improve our nation’s health. This year’s theme, “Public Health is ROI: Save Lives, Save Money,” emphasizes the value of prevention and the importance of well-supported public health systems in preventing disease, saving lives and curbing health care spending.…

Ida, you’re my hero! At 97 years young you are doing things that I can only hope to do in the prime of my life. As Lisa Ling chronicles your life in Our America I watched in awe as you ran the 100 meter dash alongside 20 year olds while breaking your own record. Your ability to stay mobile and…

David Brooks piece on the limitations of data in The New York Times hits on many of the real challenges and limitations of quantitative data collection and analysis that evaluators and consultants, like us here at Informing Change, face regularly. For example, numbers can miss nuance, big data are messy and sometimes interpreters of data look for what they want…

A recent New York Times story by Jason DeParle offers a moving portrait of three smart and ambitious young women, friends from Galveston, Texas, with dreams of a better life. All three enrolled in college but, five years later, none has graduated. All three are back in Galveston, working, paying off their debts and no doubt wondering how things might…

It’s no secret that many of us evaluators and planners love data. Accessible and reliable data organized in standardized formats and presented in visually appealing ways makes us giddy. Yet, the philanthropic community suffers from a lack of up-to-date and readily available grantmaking data—data that have the potential to inform the work of nonprofits, funders, researchers and academics. That is…

Occasionally, we are lucky enough to meet colleagues or participate in programs that help us to look at familiar problems with new perspective and new insights. I recently had the opportunity to re-examine an issue I’ve considered for many years: How can we help young men of color to succeed in school and thrive in the world beyond school? As…

While we rarely think about it as an evaluation or planning tool, poetry can open space for broader thinking and understanding to inform more strategic action. The poem below serves as a powerful and humble reminder that seldom do we see the full picture. What we see with our own eyes is in fact an interpretation of our own limited…