ML915 Beyond Measure: Using Evaluation to Build Evidence and Drive Learning

Shared measurement. Collective impact. Results-based accountability. Evidence of programmatic outcomes…

Over the past ten years, these terms have become increasingly familiar to community development professionals who are using data to build organizational capacity, improve performance, and demonstrate impact. In the current environment of limited resources, the demand for robust, credible measurement of results has never been greater. At the same time, different approaches to evaluation and emerging trends in the field make it harder for practitioners to know what type of evaluation will best serve their interests, how findings from evaluations can leverage public and private funding, and how evaluation can inform continuous program improvement.

This timely symposium will address these issues and more, with a special focus on how evaluation can be integrated into a variety of community development and funding efforts to drive organizational learning and enhanced decision-making. You’ll have the opportunity to hear from leading thinkers on evaluation -- those funders, social impact investors, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners who are working at the cutting edge of community development evaluation. Throughout this intensive day -- in keynotes, interactive panel discussions, and breakout sessions -- they will offer points and counterpoints about what it takes to foster and sustain a culture of inquiry and analysis. Speakers will describe the state of the field, and delve more deeply into areas of key concern to community development professionals seeking to make the best use of evaluation as an essential means of learning and catalyst for resource allocation and decision-making. We'll explore issues that resonate with a broad cross-section of peers who are undertaking, or considering various approaches to, evaluation. These include:

• What role does evaluation play in attracting and sustaining both public and private funding?
• How can nonprofit organizations and funders collaborate to find the best evaluation approaches to fit their needs?
• How can organizations integrate and optimize the use of data in day-to-day operations?
• How can analysis of data and communication of findings effectively target different audiences?
• How can organizations and communities make the most of the wealth of new online tools to access, map and analyze community data for evaluation and learning?
• Are there universal ways across the community development field to talk about impact that allows comparison on investments?
• How can we respond to efforts to move beyond traditional evaluation and capture the social and environmental, as well as financial, return on investment?
• What does it mean to be a data-driven learning organization?

In addition to providing an in-depth view of the current community development evaluation landscape, the symposium will offer participants the chance to tackle more nuanced, shifting elements that affect smooth implementation of measurement efforts. Among these are the ways in which government mandates influence the types of evaluation conducted; how limited evaluation capacity can prove challenging for organizations charged with meeting distinct reporting requirements for individual funders; how future trends – in philanthropy and the economy – could either boost or disrupt revenue streams earmarked for evaluation.

By the end of the day, symposium attendees will have gained a solid grasp of exactly how smart practitioners and funders, evaluation experts and national nonprofit leaders, have joined forces to develop dynamic learning organizations that use a wide range of data and evaluation approaches as the cornerstone for effective practice, delivering stronger results for people and communities throughout the country.