Together with Engage R+D and in partnership with Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Informing Change has prepared this field brief, Reimagining Learning & Evaluation: A Field Brief for Crisis and Transformation. Over the past decade, philanthropy has made significant strides in advancing culturally responsive and equitable learning and evaluation (L&E) practices. Foundations have increasingly embraced relationship-centered approaches, community-driven evaluation, and more responsive reporting practices that prioritize meaningful learning over compliance. These gains represent years of intentional work to shift power dynamics… Learn more

Pronounced “see me!” to acknowledge communities’ desire to be seen and considered, the Community Economic Mobilization Initiative (CEMI) partners with a growing list of grantees (funded partners) who aim to put communities first. Managed by The Center at Sierra Health Foundation, CEMI is a trailblazing nonprofit capacity-building effort that was developed to strengthen the ability of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)-led and serving organizations, especially those rooted in communities that have been excluded or discriminated against in California,… Learn more

Pronounced “see me!” to acknowledge communities’ desire to be seen and considered, the Community Economic Mobilization Initiative (CEMI) partners with a growing list of grantees (funded partners) who aim to put communities first. Managed by The Center at Sierra Health Foundation, CEMI is a trailblazing nonprofit capacity-building effort that was developed to strengthen the ability of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)-led and serving organizations, especially those rooted in communities that have been excluded or discriminated against in California,… Learn more

Rooted in Community: Cultivating an Ecosystem of Care for Young Children and Families is a high-level learning brief co-authored by teams from Engage R+D and Informing Change. The brief summarizes the progress made and lessons learned from across the Best Start (a place-based initiative funded by First 5 LA) networks and was prepared for funders, systems leaders, nonprofit organizations, and community champions interested in understanding what it takes to collectively strengthen early childhood outcomes. Best Start is one of many stewards… Learn more

A partnership between The Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley and Justice Outside, Working Towards Racial Equity (WTRE) is a workshop series model that supports outdoor environmental science and education (OESE) organizations in fostering more inclusive, equitable, and just work environments. The model builds on previous work to address the underlying conditions preventing equitable access to participating in programs or obtaining organizational leadership positions for people of color in the OESE field. WTRE’s goal is to support organizations in… Learn more

Managed by the San Francisco Foundation and Local Initiatives Support Corporation and supported by a broad coalition of foundations, corporations, financial institutions, community-based organizations, government agencies, and housing advocates, The Partnership for the Bay’s Future (PBF) is an innovative and collaborative initiative focused on equitably producing and preserving affordable housing and protecting renters across the San Francisco Bay Area. Guided by the principles of racial and economic equity, PBF aims to create vibrant, diverse, and inclusive communities. PBF's Policy Fund… Learn more

"Holding Relationships at the Center of Culturally Responsive and Equitable Evaluation" is written by a team of evaluators and practitioners from Engage R+D, Informing Change, and Expanding the Bench®, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Expanding the Bench® is an initiative dedicated to diversifying the field of evaluation and promoting culturally responsive and equitable evaluation (CREE) approaches. The piece reflects on attendees' responses to an interactive prompt at Expanding the Bench ®'s annual celebration event during the Evaluation… Learn more

In 2024, Informing Change prepared a report, The Regional Housing Technical Assistance (RHTA) Program: An Award-Winning Program Supporting Housing in the Bay Area, summarizing the findings of its evaluation of the RHTA program. We were commissioned by Community Planning Collaborative (CPC) to evaluate the program established by the Association of Bay Area Governments and Metropolitan Transportation Commission (ABAG/MTC). Recognizing the urgency of California’s housing crisis, ABAG/MTC established RHTA with state funding available through the Regional Early Action Planning Grant of… Learn more

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