Advocacy Evaluation: Why Bother? July 17, 2008

Host: Hudson Institute. 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? Hudson Institute’s Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal and the Alliance for Justice will co-host a panel of experts to discuss these questions and others. Speakers will include the California Endowment’s Barbara Masters; Sue Hoechstetter of the Alliance for Justice; Michael Quinn Patton, consultant and author of Utilization-Focused Evaluation; and the Bradley Center’s own William Schambra. The Harvard Family Research Project’s Julia Coffman will serve as moderator. Lunch will be served.

Official Website: http://www.hudson.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=hudson_upcoming_events&id=585