We wanted the cultural dimensions to our work to be more explicit in the model. jdcPartnerships’ background and experience in communities of color, as well as their approach to evaluative inquiry, were important factors in our decision to engage the firm.
— Steve Lew, Senior Projects Director, CompassPoint
Read our clients’ stories:
STRATEGY
Public Health Trust “What’s next?”
Common Vision: How do we change the conversation for long-term impact?
CompassPoint: How do we articulate our “value add”?
First 5 San Francisco: How can we become more effective at an organizational level?
EVALUATION
RYSE Youth Center: Starting Off Right
Fundraising Academy for Communities of Color: Are we doing the right things?
First 5 Marin Children and Families Commission: Can we do more with others than we can alone? How?
IHPTP: Making Evaluation Meaningful
Horizons Foundation: More than a Perfunctory Exercise
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Oakland Kids First: How do we demonstrate our impact?
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
Oakland Department of Human Services: How can we have greater impact?
Center for Civic Partnerships: How can the sector have a greater impact?
Background: The Fundraising Academy for Communities of Color (FACC) is a joint venture of CompassPoint Nonprofit Services (CompassPoint) and GIFT (Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training). The mission of the FACC is to build the capacity of organizations within communities of color to develop community donors, diversify funding and strengthen philanthropy towards these communities.
Situation: The FACC had been underway for several years when CompassPoint brought jdcPartnerships in to: 1) develop a Theory of Change (ToC) that would strengthen the connection between theory and action, and intention and impact; 2) support a learning environment for FACC by refining its logic model and developing an evaluation plan; and 3) develop a sustainable approach and system for ongoing evaluative inquiry.
Assessment: When jdcPartnerships was engaged, FACC was between Stage 3, Ground & Deliver, and Stage 4, Systemize & Institutionalize. CompassPoint was looking at expanding the program to Los Angeles and it was essential to have a sound understanding of FACC’s ToC and to have a logic model and evaluation plan that aligned with the ToC. As Adriana Rocha, Practice Director, stated: "A lot of assumptions are made when implementing an initiative like this. Before expanding, it was important to stop and think about the work more broadly and deeply, to ask ourselves: ‘Why are we doing this? Are we having the impact we think we are? Should we be approaching this differently?’" Steve Lew, Senior Projects Director with CompassPoint, commented that "While we were receiving plenty of positive feedback and anecdotes from academy participants, we wanted to know if we were moving beyond awareness and attitudinal change to improving skills and changing some practices in donor development. We wanted the cultural dimensions to our work to be more explicit in the model". jdcPartnerships’ background and experience in communities of color, as well as their approach to evaluative inquiry, were important factors in our decision to engage the firm."
Outcomes: As a result of the evaluative inquiry process, Steve stated: "We are gaining a clear understanding of the activities that are driving particular outcomes." Describing the process of working with jdcPartnerships, he continued: "As consultants ourselves it’s been a delight to work with other consultants who get the process of integrating their work with ours, and who’ve made the experience fun and challenging. They do their homework. They have helped us slow down our process in a good way and enabled us to go deeper in our understanding of what’s working and what’s not. They set the stage for free flowing discussion while providing structure to assure the objectives are achieved."
