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…

In this digital age, texts, tweets, apps and tags are becoming a main mode of communication for youth. Technology is becoming less bound to desks and is more mobile, accessible and versatile. More and more youth are beginning to own some type of mobile device. According to a new report by the World Bank, about three-quarters of the world’s inhabitants…

For the past two weeks, the greatest athletes in the world competed on the world’s greatest stage. The lion’s share of more than 3,500 hours of live Olympic coverage focused on the thrill of victory, the medal count and the athletes who overcame considerable obstacles to excel in their respective sports. So why can’t I stop thinking about the agony…

Last week, my car broke down. There was absolutely no ignition noise when I turned the key. After calling a local auto shop and describing my car problem, the mechanic told me to bring it in for further examination. I immediately became tense; all I could think about was the out-of-pocket cost. I asked if he could refrain from doing…

Flying back from the Grantmakers for Effective Organization’s National Conference, I reflected on the conversations I had about how to support nonprofits to enhance their effectiveness. I was particularly struck by the last session, “Can’t We All Play Nice: Reducing Government Barriers to Working with Nonprofits,” which highlighted the disproportionate amount of nonprofit support from the public sector as compared…

For those of us immersed in the evaluation field, we know that a well-executed evaluation can do much more than serve as a method of accountability or fulfill a requirement. Especially in the field of philanthropy, a comprehensive evaluation can facilitate continuous learning within foundations and the field at large, increase the effectiveness of a grantmaking strategy, and increase innovation.…

The corporate world is notorious for collecting metrics to guide their business strategy. This is evident by executives’ fixation on cost-benefit analyses, return on investment reports and performance measurements. However, this rigor often seems to be absent when it comes to corporate giving programs. A report by the Global Reporting Initiative, the University of Hong Kong and CSR Asia notes…

While the importance of networks to advance social change seems well accepted, how to assess their effectiveness is not. In a recent webinar I held on cultivating networks with Claire Reinelt from the Leadership Learning Community and Melanie Moore from See Change, many participants asked questions about measurement. How do we know if the networks have an impact? What is…

My college basketball brackets have busted. I’m disgusted and embarrassed. Why is it that people who select their brackets on the basis of uniform colors or mascots tend to do just as well or better than those who spend hours poring over stats or those who have at least a basic understanding of sports? “They call it March Madness for…

I was reminded recently, when my project team switched the response scale for a survey question from an agreement scale to a frequency scale that, too often evaluators focus on developing survey questions while giving less attention to response options. When agreement scales are used as the fail safe response option, the result can be high-quality questions without the most…

The topic of human rights protection often evokes images of poor and disadvantaged individuals and the activities conducted and laws passed to ensure that they are not mistreated. A less common image is that of evaluators collecting data from and about these very same individuals, yet this is also a real piece in the human rights protection puzzle. Evaluations of…

In the past few days, we have been drawn to the somber news of Steve Jobs’ passing. We listen to the story of his life, finding inspiration from its twists and turns. Jobs’ 2005 Stanford commencement address, in particular, caught my attention, with its straight-forward references to the certainty of death and how to gain inspiration from death’s imminence. “If…

Technology is one of my favorite things. I love to “geek-out” and have conversations about how to use new technology in evaluation projects, such as new updates to online survey software and social media tracking strategies for community organizing projects. My technology toolbox is well stocked and constantly growing. Often I am tempted to use these tools simply because I…