The Learning Conference 2011

A pioneering group of grantmakers is redefining the role of evaluation in philanthropy — it’s not solely about tracking the results and the impact of past philanthropic investments. It is also about learning how to do a better job of achieving our goals moving forward. In this hands-on workshop offered by GEO, participants will explore five key approaches to learning that many grantmakers are adopting in order to effectively improve programs and results, and learn practical tools for how they can build these approaches into their own work. Advanced registration is required. Please note: This session is good for people who are new to evaluation and learning.

Are you new to the GEO community or The Learning Conference? Do you want to start your networking early? Join us for coffee hour, right before the opening plenary luncheon. Learn more about the GEO community as you mingle with other conference attendees and get to know planning committee members. Advanced registration is requested.

We can do better together than individually, right? We know this is true. There are countless examples in nature, in systems, and in society that validate this premise. And yet, when we try to behave more intelligently collectively, we often seem to fail in spite of our best intentions. Why? What are the factors that allow us to maximize our collective intelligence? More specifically, how can philanthropy both behave more intelligent collectively and catalyze that same behavior in other systems? In this facilitated conversation, Eugene Kim will explain how we can achieve more by thinking less and letting go, drawing from real, practical examples.

Many foundations tout the importance of theories of change for effective grantmaking and require their grantees to include them in their grant proposals. In this session, Albert Ruesga will outline some of the conceptual and practical difficulties with theories of change. He will argue that requiring grantees to produce explicit theories of change beyond what they usually include in their grant proposals does little to improve the art or science of grantmaking.

The Obama Administration has put emphasis on funding “what works,” and federal initiatives such as the Social Innovation Fund, the Investing in Innovation Fund (i3) and Promise Neighborhoods are designed to grow the impact of programs. This approach seems sensible on the surface, but what does it mean? Lisbeth Schorr will explain why prevailing, narrow definitions of what counts as evidence will limit our ability to make progress on social issues. Instead, Schorr promotes a more inclusive approach to judging what works that shifts away from success-or-failure judgments to a richer knowledge base about approaches that are plausible, promising or proven.

Research underwritten by philanthropy has directly influenced government policy on a number of occasions. By conducting and sharing findings about the best use of particular social change strategies, private grantmakers can provide key insights that inform decisions at the federal, state and local levels. Thomas Kalil will challenge philanthropy to consider how more of this research can be done jointly with the government and will urge grantmakers to commit to making all research publicly available.

Storytelling is simultaneously the favorite and most-hated buzzword of the moment in philanthropy. We tell stories, but then what? Do we actually use the stories we tell and hear? How? Are stories part of philanthropy’s core business, or peripheral? Why? Are some stories worth the telling, while others should be ignored? How do we know the difference? This thought-provoking talk by Melanie Moore will explore the inherent value of storytelling for advancing philanthropic goals, critique the ways we currently use and misuse stories in our work presently, and suggest a rigorous approach to storytelling for both story creators and story “consumers.”

Going to scale is a priority of stakeholders across public and private sectors around the world. It is an increasing focus of grantmakers in the U.S. and abroad. Have we learned anything about scale over the past several years? What good practices beyond program replication or organizational growth have emerged to scale impact? Sanjeev Khagram will argue that the time is ripe for foundations to catalyze a field-wide collaborative research, development and continuous improvement system that can drive innovations for scaling impact.

Grantmakers spend many hours reviewing proposals that they are not interested in funding. Grantseekers spend many hours creating proposals that no one wants to fund. What if a single page could become an effective initial form of communication and possible connection between the two? It’s happening now in New Orleans, La. In this session, Jennifer Henderson will share examples of how the “one-page” investment opportunity has transformed one of the biggest challenges in the grant maker/grantee relationship — establishing the mutually-beneficial “fit.”

In response to feedback that one of the greatest benefits of GEO conferences is access to a community of like-minded colleagues, GEO is offering a forum for attendees to connect with one another to discuss topics important to their work. Join a discussion with a Short Talk speaker, form a small group to explore a topic of interest, or use the time to meet with the colleagues you were hoping to see at the conference.

Enjoy light refreshments and network with conference attendees in the historic Marble Room during a lively reception before your dinner plans. Are you curious about the buzz around innovation and scale? Meet some of your fellow grantmakers who are part of the inaugural cohort of the Social Innovation Fund — a federal initiative to increase the scale of impact in the areas of economic opportunity, healthy futures and youth development — at the evening reception and share your questions and insights with them.

Enjoy a continental breakfast as you network with other conference attendees and carry on the conversations from the previous day’s sessions.

Grantmakers and nonprofits increasingly are making investments in evaluation-related activities, such as grantee reporting, process evaluations and impact assessments. A Strategic Learning and Evaluation System aims to help organizations learn from their practices and experiences in ways that inform future actions by determining why, how, when and to what extent to evaluate various initiatives. Join experts and practitioners to explore what it takes to develop a SLES that can ensure grantmakers and nonprofits alike are allocating learning resources efficiently and in ways that inform strategic decision-making.

Grantmakers have committed to becoming “learning organizations,” but many are facing a mismatch between words and actions. Simple but powerful tools, including Before- and After-Action Reviews, can provide real-time and grounded information for program staff and other key stakeholders. Learn how to use Before- and After-Action Reviews to power organizational learning. Hear from grantmakers who are using learning tools like these, and explore how and when to weave them into the grantmaking cycle. If there is sufficient interest, this session may also serve as a launching point for a grantmaker Community of Practice on real-time learning and course correction.

Over the past few years there has been growing acknowledgment that grantmaker investments in networks can be as or even more important to achieving social impact than investing in individual organizations. However, assessing the effectiveness of these networks is complicated. Evaluations of networks need to consider networks both as means and ends, as an important capacity in a community and as instruments of transformation for achieving results. Hear from a panel of practitioners on how they are defining and assessing networks, explore methods and tools for evaluating networks, and dig into examples of evaluations currently in progress.

There is growing evidence that social programs focusing on work, skills-building and asset development have a positive impact on underprivileged communities. Grantmakers, nonprofits and government can drive resources to those promising initiatives by more deliberately using evaluation to better understand and share what works. The Center for Economic Opportunity, in partnership with the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City and MDRC, is using the Social Innovation Fund as an opportunity to build a broader and more compelling evidence base for effective anti-poverty programs. Hear from a panel of leaders who have been working to build support for sustainable models to reduce urban poverty and explore how grantmakers can use evidence to elevate effective programs.

Online and shared impact assessment tools are more prevalent than ever, but it’s important for grantmakers to know how and when to use these resources, as well as the relative strengths and weaknesses of each. Engage in a discussion with leaders working to build the shared impact measurement framework Charting Impact. Explore how standardized information can improve field-wide learning and evaluation, the benefits and limitations of centralized data collection and dissemination, and the application of comparable data to your grantmaking decisions.

Identifying common learning themes and impact trends across portfolios can be challenging, especially for grantmakers that support projects as they emerge from grantees without requiring them to fit into an overarching grantmaking strategy. As a responsive grantmaker, Firelight Foundation has designed a learning agenda with broad questions to help identify and track community-based actions regardless of the particular focus of the grant. Hear from those working with key stakeholders to successfully implement Firelight’s learning agenda across a variety of types of grants and grantees. The session will employ audience polling to engage attendees on key questions.

Foundations and nonprofits working to achieve social change must leverage every asset to make progress, including communications. Communications is more about quality than quantity. You and your grantees may communicate with key stakeholders frequently, but are you getting the most from these efforts? Using communications effectively isn’t about size or budget; it’s about being strategic with the resources and opportunities available. In this session, participants will assess their knowledge of the 16 things every organization needs to do to be a communicating organization, understand how the communications elements work and learn how to evaluate their use for yourself and your grantees.
Speakers: Fred Mann, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; and Dennis Poplin, Spitfire Strategies

Communities of practice can be powerful tools for managing knowledge and accelerating learning, replication and scaling. Because these communities are intentional, voluntary and unbound by geography, they can cross-pollinate ideas and spark improvements outside the scope of participants’ existing resource networks. Grantmakers can play a powerful role in bringing together and fostering these communities of practice and can transform their own grantmaking approach by becoming a learning partner within a community. But doing this work effectively requires skill, time, sensitivity and commitment. Using your own experiences as a backdrop, learn strategies and tools for creating, managing and improving communities of practice, and explore instances where they have led to improved results.

Many community-based organizations lack the capacity to conduct comprehensive evaluations or view evaluation beyond the context of meeting funder requirements. Yet having real-time data to make improvements and ensure quality of programs is a key to their success. Both AIDS United and the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky are working to build learning capacity in their grantees and potential grantees by providing access to evaluation support and helping plan for evaluation capacity building. Hear from these grantmakers how they are effectively balancing the desire to fund programs that demonstrate measurable impact with providing resources to build community and grantee capacity.

An increasing number of grantmakers are investing in broader systems change through advocacy, civic engagement and policy work, but the field still lacks strong frameworks for defining and measuring the impact of those strategies. Join a panel of grantmakers and practitioners to explore challenges and frameworks for evaluating programs that have traditionally been hard to measure.

Many change agents in philanthropy seek to identify and adopt effective learning and evaluation practices that can bring real improvements to our work. But even when we know what needs to be done, closing the gap between theory and practice is an ever-present challenge. Join with peers to synthesize what you’ve learned during the conference and dig deeper into what it will take to implement lasting changes in your work.

Selecting the right grantee partners is one of the most important jobs grantmakers do. Effective due diligence involves striking a balance between obtaining the information you want and need as a grantmaker and not asking for so much that it places an undue burden on the grantseeker. Knowing what to ask, when to ask it and how to structure information-gathering to best support decisions is still a challenge for many grantmakers. In this hands-on workshop offered by La Piana Consulting and GEO, participants will explore effective grant assessment practices and identify changes they can make to their own due diligence. Advanced registration is required.