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Advocacy Evaluation: Why Bother?
July 17, 2008
by Bradley Center
Download PDF (243.7 KB)
Transcript Now Available - Click Here! (PDF format, 30 pages, 244 KB)
A complete, edited transcript is now available of the Bradley Center and Alliance for Justice's July 17 co-sponsored panel entitled
Advocacy Evaluation:
Why Bother?
Thursday, July 17, 2008 - 12:00 to 2:00 p.m.
Hudson Institute - Betsy and Walter Stern Conference Center
1015 15th Street, NW - Suite 600
Washington, DC 20005
Event Description
More and more foundations today are considering grantmaking in the field of public policy advocacy. But the world of policy can be murky, complex, and unpredictable. It seems to be resistant to another powerful trend in philanthropy today, namely, the push toward quantifying and measuring grant outcomes. Yet there are evaluators today actively addressing this problem, developing frameworks for just that purpose. What are some ways of measuring outcomes in the field of public policy advocacy? Do they provide reliable data while at the same time doing justice to the complexity of public policy? What are effective qualitative approaches to evaluating advocacy, and are they enough?
On Thursday, July 17, Hudson Institute's Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal and the Alliance for Justice co-hosted a panel of experts to discuss these questions and others. Speakers included the California Endowment's BARBARA MASTERS; SUE HOECHSTETTER of the Alliance for Justice; MICHAEL QUINN PATTON of Utilization-Focused Evaluation; and the Bradley Center's WILLIAM SCHAMBRA. The Harvard Family Research Project's JULIA COFFMAN served as moderator.
Program and Panel
11:45 a.m.
Registration, lunch buffet
12:00 p.m.
Welcome by Hudson Institute's WILLIAM SCHAMBRA
12:10
Panel discussion
BARBARA MASTERS, The California Endowment
MICHAEL QUINN PATTON, Utilization-Focused Evaluation
SUSAN HOECHSTETTER, Alliance for Justice
WILLIAM SCHAMBRA, Hudson Institute's Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal
JULIA COFFMAN (moderator), Harvard Family Research Project
1:10
Question-and-answer session
2:00
Adjournment
Recommended Reading
The following texts were authored by panelists or their organizations:
- "Advocacy Impact Evaluation" by Michael Quinn Patton (PDF format, 10 pages, 275 KB)
- "Mission Possible: Evaluating Advocacy Grants" by Susan Hoechstetter and Marcia Egbert (online - click here - or in PDF format - 7 pages, 153 KB)
- The Challenges of Assessing Advocacy: Parts 1 and 2, publications of The California Endowment (online - click here to access)
- "The View from 1313" by William Schambra (online - click here)
For Further Information
To request further information on this event, the transcript, or the Bradley Center, please contact Kristen at (202) 974-2424 or kmcintyre@hudson.org.
Hudson Institute's Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal aims to explore the usually unexamined intellectual assumptions underlying the grantmaking practices of America’s foundations and provide practical advice and guidance to grantmakers who seek to support smaller, grassroots institutions in the name of civic renewal.
Click here to view the full list of Speeches & Testimony.
Tags - Click a tag for related material
Civic Institutions, Civil Society, Foundations, PhilanthropyShare