For over a decade, developmental evaluation has been useful for innovators trying to make a difference in the world. The Developmental Evaluation Companion – finalized in 2021 with the support of the J.W. McConnel Family Foundation – provides a high level update on the approach based that is ready for…

The collective impact framework has been adopted by countless social innovators across the world as a way for diverse people, organizations and sectors to work together to move the needle on complex challenges.  In this article published by the Stanford Social Innovation Review,  Sylvia Cheuy, Liz Weaver and Mark Cabaj…

Intermediary organizations can amplify the efforts of on-the-ground social innovators to tackle complex issues in a variety of ways: e.g., help coordinate their efforts, create or enhance different capabilities (e.g., evaluation, social finance, leadership ), develop, test and – if possible – scale promising solutions,  as well as “do whatever…

The ability of those eager to make progress on the world’s most pressing challenges – climate change, economic inequities, racism – depends on their ability to innovate, change systems and transform the deeper worldviews that help keep stubborn problems in place. Yet, the effort of change-makers is often hampered by…

Improving the probabilities that innovators  embrace evaluation practices and findings is a constant challenge.  One of the reasons for this is that many people rush to create and formalize ‘big’ evaluation designs and hope that decision-makers will embrace the evaluation findings when they eventually emerge down the road.   This linear,…