Making Evaluation Work in the Nonprofit Sector: A Call for Systemic Change

This position paper is a call for systemic changes that will create an ecosystem within which it is straightforward, efficient, and rewarding for nonprofits and funders to invest in evaluation work. It is also intended to further critical conversations to build a nonprofit sector that is more responsive, accountable, and focused on the best ways to support the communities in which they work

Planning for Monitoring, Learning, and Evaluation at Small- to Medium-Sized Foundations

This report is based on findings from desktop research and interviews with selected foundations conducted between April and June 2016. It was developed to give the Oak Foundation a sense of how other foundations are tackling monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) questions, and to show a range of options for Oak to consider as it develops its own MEL Plan. This summary of findings was developed for public distribution, anticipating that it may be useful for other donors.Key trends that emerged from the interviews and desktop research included the following:1. Foundations are spending more resources and putting more staff time into evaluation than they did in the past. Staff at smaller foundations tend to spend more time on individual grant evaluations, while staff at larger foundations tend to spend more time on assessments of broad program areas and on learning processes. While many foundations do not have consistent systems for tracking evaluation spending, some are deciding it would be useful to capture that information more methodically.2. Less attention has been put on learning to-date, but recognition of the importance of purposeful learning is growing quickly. Many foundations are hoping to improve upon their learning processes, but finding that it is not easy. It often requires an internal cultural shift and testing a variety of approaches. In contrast, foundations tend to have fairly clear processes and standards for monitoring and evaluation. Foundations that do have explicit learning efforts remain more focused on internal learning rather than communicating and sharing lessons externally. Foundations tend to be more transparent with external audiences about their grant-making processes, goals, and strategies, and less transparent about how they assess performance or their lessons learned. That said, both grantees and foundations are recognizing that sharing more lessons externally would be beneficial.3. Foundations are exploring appropriate and useful ways to evaluate work done through sub-granting organizations. Some are focusing on building the internal monitoring and evaluation capacity of those organizations. It would be useful for donors to coordinate approaches to evaluate work done through sub-granting organizations, which can allow for pooled resources and avoid putting an extra burden on the subgrantor

Economics of education research: a review and future prospects

In this paper we offer an appraisal of the economics of education research area, charting its history as a field and discussing the ways in which economists have contributed both to education research and to education policy-making. In particular, we highlight the theoretical and methodological contributions that economists have made to the field of education during the last 50 years. Despite the success of the economics of education as a field of inquiry, we argue that some of the contributions made by economists could be limited if the economics of education is seen as quite distinct from the other disciplines working in the field of education. In these areas of common interest, economists need to work side by side with the other major disciplines in the field of education if their contribution to the field is to be maximised, particularly in terms of applying improved methodology. We conclude that the study of education acquisition and its economic and social impact in the economics of education research area is very likely to remain a fertile research ground. Acknowledgement

Evaluation of quality level in managing the development of industrial enterprises

The research focuses on the substantiation of theoretical aspects and practical support for assessing the quality level of managing enterprises development taking into account the influence of the external and internal environment. The conceptual apparatus for estimation of quality development of enterprise management was refined, which makes it possible to determine reasonably the level of management according to the generally known elements (economic, social and ecological) that are proposed to be supplemented with an energy component. A new conceptual approach to the procedure of evaluation of the quality of development management by levels, the stages of which are proposed to expand by: the formation of the database by levels of management (state, regional), choice and evaluation of indicators by components of development and spheres of activity, development of the tools for management improvement. The integrated indicator has been proposed, which differs from the existing ones by the fact that it estimates the quality of development management, rather than the development level. In contrast to the previously proposed ones, the integrated indicator takes into account the influence of external environment by the components of development and of the internal environment – by the areas of activity for each component. That is why it has practical significance, since it allows performing monitoring and detecting the negative influence of management on the enterprise development. Taking coke plants as an example, the structures of the indicators that characterize the management quality were determined. A large number of indicators were reduced by the method of expert assessments, which increases the validity of the choice. Indicator estimates were constructed solely based on relative indicators (indices), which improves consistency. Using the integrated method, the estimation of the indicators by individual components and on the whole was performed. The scale for evaluation of the quality level of enterprise development management was constructed using the Harrington function. The new approach to assessing the quality of the enterprise development management and a complex of mathematical support will lead to the uniform economic, social, environmental and energy development of enterprises.Роботу присвячено обґрунтуванню теоретичних аспектiв та практичного забезпечення оцiнки якiсного рiвня управлiння розвитком пiдприємств з урахуванням впливу зовнiшнього та внутрiшнього середовища. Уточнено понятiйний апарат щодо оцiнки якiсного розвитку управлiння пiдприємствами, який дозволяє обґрунтовано визначати рiвень управлiння за загальновiдомими складовими (економiчної, соцiальної та екологiчної), до яких запропоновано додати енергетичну складову. Побудовано новий концептуальний пiдхiд до процедури оцiнки якостi управлiння розвитком за рiвнями, етапи якої запропоновано розширити за: формуванням бази даних за рiвнями управлiння (державний, регiональний), вибiр та оцiнка iндикаторiв за складовими розвитку та сферами дiяльностi, розробка iнструментiв щодо покращення управлiння. Запропоновано iнтегральний показника, який вiдрiзняється вiд iснуючих тим, що оцiнює якiсть управлiння розвитком, а не рiвень розвитку. На вiдмiну вiд запропонованих ранiше iнтегральний показник враховує вплив зовнiшнього середовища за складовими розвитку та внутрiшнього – за сферами дiяльностi по кожнiй складовiй. Тому, має практичну значимiсть, оскiльки стає можливим проводити монiторинг та виявляти негативний вплив управлiння на розвиток пiдприємства. На прикладi коксохiмiчних пiдприємств визначено склад iндикаторiв, якi характеризують якiсть управлiння. Велику кiлькiсть iндикаторiв скорочено за допомогою методу експертних оцiнок, що пiдвищує обґрунтованiсть вибору. Iндикаторнi оцiнки побудовано виключно за вiдносними показниками (iндексами), що покращує узгодженiсть. За iнтегральним методом проведена оцiнка iндикаторiв за окремими складовими та у цiлому. За функцiєю Харрiнгтону побудовано шкалу оцiнки якiсного рiвня управлiння розвитком пiдприємств. Новий пiдхiд щодо оцiнки якостi управлiння розвитком пiдприємств та комплекс математичного забезпечення приведе до рiвномiрного економiчного, соцiального, екологiчного i енергетичного розвитку пiдприємств

Evaluating Ecosystem Investments

This report focuses on what was learned about best practices for evaluating the effects of ecosystem investments along with examples of how others are using these practicesin their work.MethodologyThree research questions guided this engagement:What are the new / best practices in evaluating the effects of ecosystem invest­ments?Which organizations are evaluating these investments well? What can they teach us?What relevant outcomes and indicators could Omidyar Network use to evaluate its ecosystem investments?To answer these questions, FSG conducted the following activities, in addition to drawing on our experience supporting strategic learning and evaluation in complex environments. Appendix A includes a complete list of grants reviewed and interviewees.Grants analysis: FSG analyzed Omidyar Network's Initiative Results Architecture frameworks and 23 grants within its ecosystem investment portfolio. These docu­ments helped ground our research in an understanding of the different types of ecosystem investments Omidyar Network is making, as well as how the organiza­tion currently evaluates the impact of its ecosystem investments.Literature review: FSG reviewed more than 60 publications to identify best practices in evaluating ecosystem investments—these publications included both peer-reviewed journal articles and "grey literature" (conference presentations, blog posts) by organizations employing advocacy-type strategies.Interviews: FSG conducted interviews with nine external experts (listed in Appen­dix A) to more deeply understand effective practices in evaluating the effects of eco­system investments and to identify leading organizations in this area. Interviewees were identified to glean best practices from both within and outside the traditional social sector

Audit report on the Iowa Judicial Retirement System for the year ended June 30, 2013

Audit report on the Iowa Judicial Retirement System for the year ended June 30, 201

Assessing Social Impacts of Investments: Developing Effective Evaluation Systems to Measure Social Returns

Strategic and clear structures provide a solid foundation for effective and sustainable impact assessment. While the details of the evaluation systems and processes will vary by program and desired impact, there are guidelines and considerations based on best practices that have broad applications for any kind of evaluation

Solutions for Impact Investors: From Strategy to Implementation

In writing this monograph, our main goal is to provide impact investors with tools to tighten the link between their investment decisions and impact creation. Our intent is threefold: to attract more capital to impact investing; to assist impact investors as they move from organizational change to executing and refining their impact investment decision-making process; and to narrow the gap within foundations between program professionals and investment professionals thereby contributing to a mutual understanding and implementation of a portfolio approach to impact investing.Additionally, we intend to help break down the barriers making it difficult to identify opportunities in impact investing. To this end, we provide examples throughout the monograph and at www.rockpa.org/impactinvesting of impact investment opportunities in most major asset classes.While we understand the important role that impact investors can play in providing financial capital, we also want to acknowledge the wide range of non-financial resources needed to address the world's problems. Our intent with this monograph is not to provide a comprehensive list of investments across asset classes nor any type of investment advice with regard to the selected profiles. We strongly encourage the reader to conduct their own assessment and evaluation for risk and suitability before considering any investment

The specificity of functions and principles of fiscal management

The multiple changes which take place in the public sector due to the economical social and political processes and phenomenon impose the development and the perfecting of public management in order to assure efficiency and efficacy. Although in the specialty literature, the concept of fiscal management or management of fiscal activity is not very well defined, we will try to define this concept, to identify the fundamental and specific objectives, to specify the content of specific functions and principles

Managing issues in risk assessment in auditing process

The paper intends to present some aspects of evaluating various dimensions of risks as they are necessary to be estimated in the auditing process. The definitions for audit are used to emphasize on the nature of the evidence data and the input information for conducting such an audit. Then, a short characterization of the evaluation of risk and a prioritization procedure are described.auditing process, risk assessment, prioritization procedure