Evaluation Workshop for Regional Associations

This half-day workshop was prepared from materials developed by FSG Social Impact Advisors and funded by the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation. It is based on the framework and research in FSG’s publication From Insight to Action: New Directions in Foundation Evaluation (2007).

The goal of this workshop is to help foundation staff and boards find pragmatic, economical, and useful ways to employ new evaluation techniques that will allow them to make better informed decisions and to become more effective in achieving social impact.  More specifically, the workshop enables participants to discuss and apply the framework and ideas from FSG’s report to a hypothetical case that includes different types of grant support such as advocacy, program, general operating, and capacity building initiatives. All workshop participants should leave with an understanding of the new approach to evaluation that is emerging in the field and with a sense of excitement about specific ways to apply these evaluation techniques to achieve greater impact in their work.

Workshop materials include:

The intended audience is board and staff members from staffed foundations of all sizes and types – including family, independent, corporate, and community foundations – as well as corporate giving programs. The materials were developed for foundations at all giving levels, from hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions of dollars in annual grantmaking. It is assumed that the foundations will have at least one staff member or a trustee who is actively devoted to managing the foundation, although the principles can apply to foundations with large staffs as well. The materials will not be as relevant for unstaffed foundations.