Philanthropy and Evaluation

• • Nonprofit Quarterly, Feb. 3, 2017, “Voice from the Field: Risk Management, Foundation Practice, and the Status Quo.”
  • Audience Building Roundtable blog, November 27, 2017, Tell Me a Story.

• • Food Tank, April 12, 2016, “Addressing a Food Oasis with Right-Size Retail.”

• • Ashoka – Medium, April 7, 2016, “Social Enterprise, Southern Fried.”

• • The Healthy Food Access Portal, Feb. 17, 2016, “From Food Desert to Food Oasis, One Casserole at a Time.“

• • The Foundation Review, Vol. 7, No. 4, December 2015, “Reflections and commentary on a theory of philanthropy.”

• • National Center for Family Philanthropy, September 24, 2015, Expanding your comfort zone: Managing risk.

• • The Hehinger Report, July 9, 2015, Advocates for arts education may be doing more harm than good.

• • “Dominoes or Pick-Up Sticks: Philanthropy, Evaluation & Social change,” Presenter at Council on Foundations 2012 Family Philanthropy Conference, Feb. 14, 2012, Miami Beach, FL.

• • “Re-Imagine Impact: It’s Easy if You Try,” Presenter at Sundance Documentary Film Program panel session at Sundance 2012, Jan. 23, 2012, Filmmakers Lodge, Park City, UT.

• • “10 Things in 10 Minutes on Philanthropy, Evaluation & Social Change,” Presenter at Creative Change Retreat, Aug. 16, 2011, Sundance/Redford Conference Center, UT.

• • “Developing a Strategic Learning and Evaluation System,” Presenter at the 2011 GEO Learning Conference, June 7, 2011, Baltimore, MD.

• • “Philanthropy, Evaluation, Accountability, and Social Change,” The Foundation Review (Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State, Vo. 1, Issue 4, 2010).

• • “Reflections for a New Era in Evaluation,” FSG Strategic Evaluation Blog, Oct. 11, 2011.

• • “Philanthropy, Evaluation and Social Change,” Presenter at the 2009 American Evaluation Association Conference, Nov. 14, 2009, Orlando, FL.

• • “Partnering with Power Brands to Combat Childhood Obesity,” Presenter and facilitator at the 2009 Southern Obesity Summit, Oct. 5, 2009, Austin, TX.

• • “Helping Rural Areas Reinvent Philanthropy to Serve Their Own Needs,” (with Penelope McPhee), Philanthropy & Rural America journal, (Council on Foundations, 2008).

• • “Sports Philanthropy and Community Collaborations,” Presenter at 2008 Philanthropy Summit / Council on Foundations annual conference, May 5, 2008, National Harbor, MD.

• • “Evidence Based Practices and Bringing Research to Practice,” Facilitator for Leadership Panel, Communities in Schools National Conference, Nov. 1, 2007, Atlanta, GA.

• • “Foundation – Nonprofit Partnerships,” National Health and Livability Summit, April 18, 2007, Atlanta, GA.

• • “Putting Evaluation to Work for Foundations,” Atlanta Area Evaluation Association, Jan. 24, 2006, Atlanta, GA.

• • “Evaluation and the Sacred Bundle,” The Evaluation Exchange, a publication of the Harvard Family Research Project, Vol. XI, No. 2, Summer 2005.

• • “Evaluation Case Teaching from A Participant Perspective,” New Directions for Evaluation, Jossey-Bass and the American Evaluation Association, No. 105, Spring 2005, p. 83. (full issue)

• • “On Evaluation and Philanthropy: Evaluation in a New Gilded Age,” The Evaluation Exchange, Vol. IX, No. 4, Winter 2003/2004, p. 20.

• • “Where Is Your Evaluation Report? Dusty Book Shelf or Decision-making Tool?” American Evaluation Association panel session, Nov. 6, 2004, Atlanta, GA.

• • “Foundations, Evaluation, and the Goal of Social Change, Part 2: Evaluation Practice in Support of Social Change,” American Evaluation Association panel session, Nov. 4, 2004, Atlanta, GA.

• • “Foundations, Evaluation, and the Goal of Social Change, Part 1: Conceptualizing Social Change as a Process and Outcome,” American Evaluation Association panel session, Nov. 3, 2004, Atlanta, GA.

• • “Why the Best-Laid Plans of Staff and Board Often Go Awry,” Grantmakers for Effective Organizations National Conference sub-plenary, March 19, 2004, Seattle, WA.

• • “Managing Risk in a Grantmaking Portfolio,” Grantmakers for Effective Organizations National Conference workshop, March 19, 2004, Seattle, WA.

• • “Learning from Outside Perspectives: Enhancing Philanthropy’s Self-Perception,” Grantmakers for Effective Organizations National Conference plenary, March 18, 2004, Seattle, WA.

• • “The Road Less Traveled: Connecting Program and Evaluation Work Without Bloodshed,” Grantmakers for Effective Organizations National Conference panel session, March 17, 2004, Seattle, WA.

• • “Measuring the Almost Immeasurable; How Funders and Grantees Can Shape Evaluation,” Grantmakers in Health panel session, Feb. 26, 2004, Hollywood, FL.

• • “Building Strong Foundation-Grantee Relationships,” with Michael Quinn Patton and Deborah G. Bonnet, in Foundations and Evaluation: Contexts and Practices for Effective Philanthropy, eds. Marc T. Braverman, Norman A. Constantine and Jana Kay Slater (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004). (Google books)

• • “Which Way Makes a Difference? Good grantmaking calls for some measure of three crucial factors for success: execution, strategy and leadership,” Foundation News & Commentary, (January/February 2003), p. 31.

• • “Commentary,” in Evaluating Community Collaborations, ed. Thomas E. Backer, Ph.D. (New York: Springer, 2003).

• • “Risk,” The Evaluation Exchange, Vol. VIII, No. 2 (Fall 2002), p. 9.

• • “Looking Before Leaping,” (with Thomas E. Backer) Foundation News & Commentary, (March/April 2002), p. 49.

• • “Try My Elixir: Ten ways to communicate the value of evaluation to grantmaking colleagues,” Foundation News & Commentary, (January/February 2002), p 22.

• • “In Search of a Valid and Reliable Mechanism to Assess Risk in Grant Making,” American Evaluation Association Annual Conference think tank session, Nov. 9, 2001, St. Louis, MO.

• • “Overcoming Cultural and Technical Barriers to Integrating Evaluation into Foundation Program Work,” American Evaluation Association, Nonprofit and Foundation Evaluation TIG Meeting, Nov. 8, 2001, St. Louis, MO.

• • “Enhancing Community Infrastructure for Nonprofit Capacity Building,” Council on Foundations 52nd Annual Conference roundtable session, May 1, 2001, Philadelphia, PA.

• • Turning Information Into Action,” Council on Foundations 52nd Annual Conference panel session, April 30, 2001, Philadelphia, PA.

• • “Integrating Evaluation into Foundation Program Work,” Council on Foundations 52nd Annual Conference panel session, April 29, 2001, Philadelphia, PA.

• • “Introduction,” (with Penelope McPhee) in Building Capacity in Nonprofit Organizations, eds. Carol J. De Vita and Cory Fleming, The Urban Institute (April 2001), p. 1.

• • “Integrating Community Indicators into Grant Making,” (with Penelope McPhee and Liz Sklaroff), a research paper presented at annual conference of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, Nov. 17, 2000, New Orleans, LA.

• • “Evaluation in Philanthropy,” National Institute for Government Innovation Grants Summit, Nov. 13, 2000, Washington, DC.

• • “Strategies for Change,” American Evaluation Association roundtable, Nov. 2, 2000, Honolulu, HI.

• • “Turning Information into Action: A Model and Case Study for Integrating Community Indicators into Grant Making,” American Evaluation Association demonstration session, Nov. 2, 2000, Honolulu, HI.

• • “Goal: Stronger Nonprofits; Going to the Next Level,” (with Thomas E. Backer) Foundation News & Commentary, Vol. 41, No. 5 (September/October 2000), p. 38.

• • “Integrating Community Indicators into Grant Making: A Model for Turning Information into Action,” Grantmakers Evaluation Network-Grantmakers for Effective Organizations Conference 2000 roundtable, March 30, 2000, Kansas City, MO.

• • “Scanning the Environment for Philanthropic Best Practice Systems,” (with Thomas E. Backer) Foundation News & Commentary, Vol. 40., No. 6 (November/December 1999), p. 24.

• • “Getting Value from Evaluation,” Grantmakers in the Arts Conference panel session, November 15, 1999, San Francisco, CA.

• •  “Indicators of Social Health: A New Tool for Philanthropy,” Independent Sector Annual Conference panel session, October 25, 1999, Los Angeles, CA.

• “Community Indicators: Lessons from the Field,” 15th Fall Conference for Community Foundations panel session, September 29, 1999, Denver, CO.