Evaluators have developed an impressive array of approaches, frameworks, and tools to support both coalitions/networks and their funders. The report explores these developments, and points to challenges and opportunities that remain in efforts to assess the effectiveness and impact of coalitions/networks.

This review is for coalitions and networks that are considering embarking on evaluation. It begins with what makes coalitions and networks different from standalone organizations, and the implications for evaluation. It then reviews five selected evaluation frameworks, highlighting their advantages, limitations, and applicability. Finally, it offers a set of lessons and opportunities related to coalition/network evaluation based on real-life experiences, along with insights for funders on how best to support evaluation of the coalitions/networks they support.

• advocacy
• alliance building
• collaboration
• collaborations
• collective impact
• common methods
• evaluation
• framework
• impact
• movement capacity
• organization
• participation process
• social change

On page 17 of this report, social service organizations are identified as places that have not been organized to contribute to social change efforts. The author cites the Building Movement Project’s Social Service and Social Change: A Process Guide (http://www.buildingmovement.org/blog/entry/22?news/entry/22) as a tool to increase engagement as well as noting other strategies for recruitment.

• advocacy
• alliances
• engagement
• leadership
• movement building
• organizing
• social service
• vision

This report includes two case studies of community building efforts by nonprofit organizations in Detroit and New York City. The two cases profiled here focus on staff and clients, but organizations around the country are innovating to build a sense of community with volunteers and boards as well. Organizations who find inspiration in these examples and new insights from the tools and discussion questions are encouraged to find and develop their own practices.

• building
• community
• practice

This report describes what took place during a national convening, held in 2007, on how nonprofit service organizations can support client and constituent civic involvement.

• civic engagement
• service providers

This excerpt on pages 16 to 25 from the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s “Sustaining Neighborhood Change” report highlights the importance of data as a tool in the community change process. It also outlines a process for developing a data collection and analysis plan that aligns with the Authentic Demand framework described in the full report. (The report Sustaining Neighborhood Change: The Power of Resident Leadership, Social Networks, and Community Mobilization developed through the Making Connections Initiative of the Annie E. Casey Foundation).

• data

Building Movement, the Alliance and the Ms.Foundation were all part of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Civic Engagement Learning Year
in 2008. As part of the project, groups who formed partnerships were eligible for small Connect Grants. The three groups received a grant to hold a summit with practitioners, researchers, intermediaries and funders to look at civic engagement impact measurement and dialogue with other organizations.

This report presents a brief summary of the key findings that came out of the Civic Engagement Evaluation Summit. It also examines how organizations currently view their relationship with impact measurement. It then ends with a set of recommendations for how to increase the nonprofit sector’s capacity to respond to the increasing need for tools to measure the impact of civic engagement and social change work.

• evaluation
• impact

With the support of The California Endowment, the Building Movement Project surveyed over 450 California-based nonprofit direct service providers to explore whether they are integrating social change activities into their work. The survey results, which are discussed in Part One of Catalysts for Change, demonstrate that the language and activities of civic engagement, constituent voice, and social change are familiar to service providers in California, even if they may not be universally agreed upon. The range of activities beyond services reveals a clear need for more support and direction for service providers that are interested in addressing the systemic causes of problems facing clients. The report offers recommendations that speak to the roles funders, nonprofit technical assistance providers, intermediaries, academics, and others can play in helping organizations integrate social change-oriented efforts into their existing direct service work.

To read Part Two: Case Studies of Catalysts for Change, click here.

• change
• direct services
• learning community
• participation
• strategy

With the support of The California Endowment, the Building Movement Project surveyed over 450 California-based nonprofit direct service providers to explore whether they are integrating social change activities into their work.  Part Two of Catalysts for Change offers five in-depth case studies of California-based health and social service providers that are engaging in non-service activities to address systemic issues – including poverty, inequality, and health disparities – as well as building the voice and power of their constituents. The case studies illustrate and highlight many of the concepts explored in Part One of Catalysts for Change and they give readers the opportunity to delve more deeply into the work of different organizations that are engaged in direct service delivery and other change-oriented activities.

To read Part One: Report of Catalysts for Change, click here.

• constituent voice
• external action
• internal capacity
• leadership
• partnerships

“Transactions, Transformations, Translations: Metrics That 
Matter for Building, Scaling, and Funding Social Movements” is a way of looking at organizational growth and the alliance building that brings groups together. This evaluation approach can capture the importance of narrative and numbers, of politics and policies, of transformation as well as transaction.

• alliance building
• development
• leadership
• movement
• organizational growth

Follow this link to find the “Guide to Evaluating Collective Impact” report and a supplement with sample questions, outcomes, and indicators. Accessing this resource requires you to join FSG, which is free, and which we recommend.

• collective impact
• evaluation
• guide
• social change