Three Informing Change team members (Rachel Kramer, Evan Gattozzi, and Michael Arnold) have co-authored a research brief with staff at the University of California, Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) titled "Youth Engaged in STEM and Service: A Culturally Relevant and Sustaining Summer Solar Camp Leveraging Community-Based Partnerships." Informing Change served as the evaluation partner for three summers (2021, 2022, and 2023) of Youth Engaged in Stem and Service (YESS), an NSF-funded hands-on summer program designed and implemented in collaboration by… Learn more

The Ford Foundation commissioned Informing Change—in collaboration with Active Voice Lab—to conduct an evaluation covering five years of the JustFilms initiative (2017–2021) that seeks to take stock of JustFilms’ strategy over that time. During 2017–2021, JustFilms awarded $27.3 million to 187 films through 223 content grants, including six grants through fiscal sponsors. This Executive Summary presents a high-level overview of this evaluation. The evaluation is intended to strengthen and refine JustFilms’ theory of how change happens. We explore progress toward outcomes, unpack… Learn more

In 2022, the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation (the Foundation) commissioned Informing Change to conduct a summative evaluation of its Cyber Initiative (the Initiative). The Foundation created the Initiative in 2014 ith the objective of establishing a cyber field of multidisciplinary experts with the necessary knowledge, expertise, and reach to inform policymakers and the public about pressing cyber issues. The Initiative was originally intended to invest a total of $20 million over a five-year period, with an additional $45 million… Learn more

In this 2022 youth impact survey report, we share findings, insights, and considerations drawn from a survey of members (ages 13–22) participating in programming at Best Buy Teen Tech Centers (TTCs) and Clubhouses: Where Technology Meets Imagination. All TTCs and Clubhouses are affiliates of The Clubhouse Network (TCN). Informing Change fielded the survey in January and February 2022. The online version of the survey was available in nine languages, with an option to complete a paper-based survey which was made… Learn more

As The Clubhouse Network (TCN) approached its 30th anniversary, organization leaders engaged Informing Change to evaluate the impact of the Clubhouses on TCN alumni dating back to the program’s earliest years. Through the evaluation, we focus on TCN’s long-term impact on young people and their reflections on how the Clubhouse experience affects their lives. Our evaluation also identifies the ways alumni want to engage with each other and the International Clubhouse Alumni Network (ICAN). For this evaluation, Informing Change conducted… Learn more

Informing Change has evaluated the Los Angeles Jewish Teen Initiative (LAJTI or the Initiative) since it began in 2015. This evaluation report, Findings from the LAJTI Evaluation - Years 6-8, covers the last three years of the Initiative, from Fall 2020 through Spring 2023, and draws primarily on qualitative data collected from teens, Jewish educators, parents, and community stakeholders. Although the data collection for this report focuses on the Initiative’s activities during the last three years, many informants who provided… Learn more

Grant application and reporting processes often define the exchange of information between funders and grantees. Yet, for applicants and grantees, they can be experienced as tiresome, funder-centric, a waste of time and money, and overly bureaucratic. Meanwhile, grantmakers say they don’t always read grant reports, and when they do read them, the information they contain isn’t always useful. Acknowledging that current approaches have not served their field well, the Gender Funders CoLab (CoLab), a network of private foundations that collectively… Learn more

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation invited Informing Change to partner with them in the development of an updated Data Ethics Guidebook. In doing so, we considered the evolving ecosystem of values, players, and circumstances in which evaluation is now happening in philanthropy. While appreciating the insights evaluation work can yield, we acknowledge the ways evaluation can do harm. First, this Guidebook establishes baseline practices for reducing the risk of causing harm through unethical approaches. It also offers more equity-oriented,… Learn more

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation invited Informing Change to partner with them in the development of an updated Data Ethics Guidebook. In doing so, we considered the evolving ecosystem of values, players, and circumstances in which evaluation is now happening in philanthropy. In addition to the Guidebook, we developed a companion Data Ethics Toolkit to allow the reader to capture insights and create feedback loops within your team and community. The Toolkit contains Stories from the Field to illustrate… Learn more

In 2008, the Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) set out to answer a question: How could the field of Jewish camp attract and retain more teen campers? What if, posited FJC, new Jewish camps offering teen programs that dove deep into a specialty area could attract new campers and simultaneously increase the capacity of the Jewish camp field? After researching this concept, FJC believed a new specialty camp model had potential to connect with a new market of Jewish campers… Learn more

Eighty reproductive or birth justice organizations supported by Groundswell Fund or via one of its grantmaking partners reflected on their work, progress made, and challenges encountered in 2021. They described the headwinds and tailwinds they faced, the allies they worked with, and their strategies. Collectively, these organizations have programs in 49 of 50 states (all except West Virginia), the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Reproductive and Birth Justice Movements work intersectionally to secure changes… Learn more

Managed by the San Francisco Foundation and Local Initiatives Support Corporation, the Partnership for the Bay’s Future (PBF) is an innovative and collaborative effort of philanthropic, private, nonprofit, and public sectors using racial and economic equity as the guiding influence to ensure the Bay Area is a place where everyone can live in vibrant, inclusive communities of racial and economic diversity. PBF aims to achieve this goal by addressing the interconnected challenges of housing, transportation and economic inclusion. Starting with… Learn more

During 2020-2021, we collaborated with Open Mind Consulting to undertake a study commissioned by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation's Performing Arts Program to help the Foundation better understand what has been accomplished and who benefits from the funds and services provided by intermediary partners of the Program and how these partners have adapted to external, contextual shifts, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Intermediary partners are organizations that receive funding from the Hewlett Foundation which in turn is directly distributed to… Learn more

The Achievable Health Center opened in 2013 in Culver City, California, as an innovative, licensed health center with a unique model of care, serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. The Health Center was created out of the founders’ understanding of patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) and their needs, the recognition of the harms done by the absence of this understanding in other health care settings, and the determination to create a wraparound environment that… Learn more

The Denver Boulder Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Initiative (the Initiative) began in 2014 with a partnership between Rose Community Foundation and Jim Joseph Foundation to fund grantees selected to be the drivers of change in the Jewish teen landscape through their teen-led programming and strong adult-teen relationships. The Initiative partnered with us as the external evaluator for Phase I of the Initiative (2014–17). We conducted a mixed-method evaluation, consisting of surveys and interviews of stakeholder groups, including teens, parents,… Learn more

We, in partnership with Open Mind Consulting and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, researched seven organizations to learn about how they share, collaborate on, and distribute leadership. Looking through the lens of decision making, we discovered that even among this small sample, the ways of distributing power, authority, and responsibility are myriad. Whether rotating leadership positions, leadership teams, or a practice of distributing leadership that transcends the entire organization, each organization approached sharing leadership from different angles. To understand this variation, we’ve… Learn more

Informing Change has served as the local learning partner for five of ten Jewish Teen Initiatives in cities across the United States (Atlanta, Boston, Denver/Boulder, Los Angeles, and San Diego). These initiatives, supported by the Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Funder Collaborative, constitute a series of experiments in developing and scaling innovative approaches to engaging Jewish teens. This document—Informing Change’s evaluation report for the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston—focuses on our research during the initiative’s third year (2017–18), while… Learn more

Moishe House supports over 60,000 young adults around the world in creating meaningful Jewish communities for their peers. As an organization deeply committed to ongoing learning and development, Moishe House leadership engages in in-depth evaluation of their flagship program every three years to understand the program’s overall impact and opportunities to better meet the needs and interests of their constituents. Moishe House engaged Informing Change for a second time in 2018 to evaluate their flagship programs—Moishe House and Moishe House… Learn more

In 2017, we collaborated on a strategic planning and theory of change process with the nonprofit Oakland Leaf, which provides quality outside-of-school programming for underserved youth with an emphasis on art, wellness, leadership, literacy, and STEM. Informed by a landscape scan of similar organizations, rapid feedback interviews with an array of stakeholders, and a series of interactive and exploratory sessions with board and staff members, Informing Change produced a strategic plan to guide the organization’s direction and decision-making over the… Learn more

Youth Outside strives to ensure that the lived experiences of all youth are honored as part of the outdoor experience. In service of this goal, in 2012 Youth Outside began OEI as a development program to empower young adults (ages 18–24) from underrepresented communities to become outdoor leaders, and to foster greater inclusion and culturally relevant leadership within the outdoor education, recreation, and environmental field. Our evaluation of OEI explored its impact on equity in outdoor leadership and employment, and… Learn more