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Evaluation Policy
E&R Philosophy/Approach to
Practice
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E&R serves the Board of Trustees through
Senior Management, and works closely with Program Directors (PD’s). A
natural tension, however, exists between program administrators (responsible
for managing grants and day-to-day grantee relations) and E&R (responsible
for tracking, documenting, and analyzing results of grantmaking and
enterprise efforts).
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Since a good portion of the success of
E&R efforts depends on effective working partnerships with Program
Directors, communication and transparency between PD’s and E&R personnel are
essential. Thus, in most cases, E&R activities are intentionally designed
and implemented to be appropriately transparent, as well as meaningfully
engaging of, and relevant for, BCM Program Directors.
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Practical, creative, and innovative in
approach, E&R efforts are conceptually grounded in a foundation
effectiveness framework.
Foundation Effectiveness
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There is much focus on philanthropic
effectiveness these days, and because field consensus has yet to be reached
on a generalizable foundation effectiveness framework (let alone definitions
and measures), many foundations have designed and begun to test their own. A
significant challenge to measurement, evaluation, and research professionals
world-wide, learning how to understand philanthropic social impact is a
central focus for E&R.
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BCM designed and adopted an Impact
Assessment model intended to represent, thus capture, the totality of its
stewardship; from Grantmaking Strategy, to Leveraging and Public Policy
efforts, and also Foundation Operations. E&R directs efforts to understand
the effects of BCM resource allocation in the New Orleans community, thus,
is responsible for systematically collecting, tracking, analyzing, and
reporting effectiveness-related data.
Grantee Effectiveness
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Understanding what helps Grantee
Organizations effectively achieve the intent of their BCM grant award is not
only an important component of understanding foundation effectiveness, it is
a central focus of BCM day-to-day efforts. E&R studies grantee effectiveness
as a part of the larger framework of foundation effectiveness, and attempts
to contribute to grantee effectiveness through its work with BCM Program
Directors.
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A written grant evaluation is required
for each separate grant issued by BCM. The level of effort represented in
each grant evaluation is directly proportional to the grant amount, such
that smaller grants tend to plan simpler, easy to report evaluation
activities; whereas, larger grants typically involve more complex and
multi-layered evaluation designs.
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In parallel, E&R involvement at an
individual grant level currently depends on grant size. For example, E&R
provides technical and conceptual consultation to Program Directors (PDs) on
individual grant performance plans, and, in concert with Program Directors (PDs),
may also participate in grant planning with Grantees.
Selected Resources for Internal Evaluation
Offices
BOOKS
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High Impact Internal Evaluation (2000)
Sonnichsen, Richard C.
Sage Publishers, Inc.
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Can Governments Learn: Comparative
Perspectives on Evaluation & Organizational Learning (1994)
Leeuw, Frans L.; Rist, Ray; Sonnichsen, Richard
(Eds.)
Transaction Publishers
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Internal Evaluation: Building
Organizations From Within (1991)
Love, Arnold J.
Sage Publishers, Inc.
Applied Social Science Research Methods Series (Volume 24)
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Action-Oriented Evaluation in
Organizations (1992)
Hudson, Joe; Mayne, John; Thomlison, Ray (Eds.)
Wall & Emerson, Inc.
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Consulting on the Inside: An Internal
Consultant’s Guide to Living and Working Inside Organizations (2000)
Scott, Beverly
ASTD Press
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Organizational Consulting: How to be
an Effective Internal Change Agent (2003)
Weiss, Alan
John Wiley & Sons, Inc
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Evaluation in Organizations: A
Systematic Approach to Enhancing Learning, Performance, and Change (2001)
Russ-Eft, Darlene; Preskill, Hallie
Perseus Publishing
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
PROFESSIONAL JOURNALS
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Evaluation & Program Planning
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Harvard Business Review
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Stanford Social Innovation Review
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American Journal of Evaluation
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Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly
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The Canadian Journal of Program
Evaluation
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New Directions for Evaluation
Click on the button below for E&R identified evaluation resources
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