As social change organizations endure curveballs that up-end their work, many don’t pay enough attention to “process knowledge”: conserving organizational knowledge of how results actually get achieved. “Process knowledge” is understanding beyond the instruction manual. It is the combination of the written text and the “sub-text” of environmental factors, past experiences, and knowing-who-to-call-at-8pm to get …
Continue reading “Build Process Knowledge for Organizational Resilience”
Autumn has tightened its chilly grip, and that means one thing – the US Supreme Court is back in session. In 2025-2026 the US Supreme Court will consider the Trump administration’s attempted evisceration of birthright citizenship, a challenge to a majority-Black Louisiana Congressional district, and whether a Colorado law barring “conversion therapy” violates the First …
As 2025 unfolds, more social change philanthropies are providing “flexible funding” or “rapid response” grants to help grantees address chaotic times. Flexible funding / rapid response is a lifeline for many nonprofits and the communities they serve. It also provides valuable lessons about community needs and effective responses that philanthropies, advocates, and organizers can use …
Continue reading ““Flexible Funding” / Rapid Response Evaluation: a Field Example”
“Defensive” periods are critically hard for social change activists. There are the “normal” challenges of organizing and advocacy: people, resources, time. There’s exhaustion, and a high emotional toll. On top of this, supporters can struggle to articulate how defense promotes their goals – goals that almost always were created with policy progress in mind. In …
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Fine Gauge Strategy drafts case statements for advocacy organizations, campaigns, and coalitions. Here’s a few groups whose challenges we’ve helped address in recent years: We’ve learned a great deal from these clients about creating a case statement that helps funders and supporters connect the prospective grantee’s mission and goals with theirs. This month, we’ve put …
Continue reading “Seeking Funding or Other Support? A Crisp Case Statement Can Help”
(1) Litigation as “storyboard.” Litigation in 2017-2020 (which, among other things, challenged harsh enforcement such as the Muslim Ban and “public charge”) protected vulnerable communities. It also was used by advocates as an effective “hook” to shape narrative, support organizing, and encourage policymakers to act. Organizers helped ensure that media reported on courtroom hearings and …
I was leaving a March 2023 Nonprofit Consultants Network (NCN) meeting when I joined a small group of colleagues who were catching up. An event planner I’d long admired was describing a service she developed after COVID wiped the nonprofit gala season off everyone’s calendars. It was such a savvy business pivot. How did she …
Continue reading “We Built an Innovation Accelerator: Here’s What We Learned”
For many social change organizations, summer is a time to take stock and plan for projects to start in the fall. If a consultant project is on your menu, I have some pointers to make the launch as smooth as possible. They are: 1) Identify who will be informed by the consultant project and what …
Continue reading “Six Tips for Launching a Successful Project with Your Consultant”
I’ve attended the American Evaluation Association (AEA) annual conference for the past nine years. During this time, the conference schedule has increasingly featured presentations on collaborative and participatory measurement and learning (MLE) for nonprofit social change programs. Continuing that trend, evaluators at AEA 2023 presented on MLE projects where they are serving as facilitators and …
Continue reading “Six Takeaways on the State of Evaluation from #AEA2023”
I bet you have a friend who owns an Apple watch, or a Garmin. Who keeps track of how many steps he’s taken before breakfast. Or how many vertical [feet? meters?] she’s skied in her morning on the slopes. Like me, did you think . . . what’s up with that? Is it making him …
