Evaluation + Organizational Learning
When Blueprint is engaged to lead an evaluation project, we become partners in organizational learning – we provide ongoing, practical feedback on what is and is not working and help our clients apply these lessons to increase the impact of their work. We believe strongly in participatory processes that engage the evaluation stakeholders upfront in determining what each most needs to know from the evaluation, and increase the entire organization’s commitment to learning. We also seek to increase each client’s capacity to evaluate and learn from their own work once our engagement is complete.
Though Blueprint is adept in all forms of evaluation and assessment, we specialize in prospective evaluation projects focused on capturing the impact of work that is ongoing, as opposed to evaluating completed projects. We also focus on evaluations at the portfolio or program level, evaluating the work of many grantees. Our clients are generally asking themselves questions such as:
- How well are we (the funder) selecting and supporting our grantees to achieve our goals?
- Are our grantees making progress towards those goals? Why or why not?
- What can we do better or differently to maximize progress towards our goals?
- What have we accomplished?
In addition, we are particularly interested in evaluation work that has implications for and contributes new knowledge to the field of philanthropy, feeding our industry analysis practice in which we write and think about how to strengthen the field or “industry” of giving.
Specific services include:
- Developing and implementing evaluation designs that match each organization’s priority information needs and budget
- Leading the development of evaluation frameworks, theories of change, and program logic models
- Helping organizations prioritize their evaluation questions
- Defining measurable objectives and indicators
- Delivering summaries of findings in easily digestible formats along with practical recommendations for applying what is learned to improve impact
- Customizing evaluation findings for different audiences, including foundation staff, boards of directors, grantees and foundation peers and colleagues
- Developing evaluation tools, such as surveys and interview protocols that foundation staff can administer themselves
- Aligning grantee reporting systems to support evaluation and learning on an ongoing basis
Sample projects include:
- The California Endowment and California Health Care Foundation – Evaluating Efforts to Influence State Health Policy
- The California Endowment – Evaluating Policy and Advocacy Work
- Communities for Public Education Reform – Evaluating Education Organizing Efforts
- Roots of Change – Evaluating Collaborative Systems Change Efforts
