AEA365 Blogs

January 2024

Social Impact in Indianapolis
by Courtney Bolinson, Lala Kasimova, Morgan Buras Finlay and Heather Esper

Qualitative Data Tools for Impact Measurement and Management
by Slavica Stevanovic

Friends or Frenemies? Evaluations, corporations and sustainability
by Morgan Buras Finlay, Veronica Olazabal, Jared Raynor and John Sherman

Using Most Significant Change Stories in Social Finance Systems Change Initiatives
by Jane Reisman, Jasmine Johnson and John Sherman

Let’s stop undervaluing project outputs and outcomes
by Seth Tucker

Social return on investment (SROI) as an evaluation framework for localization?
by Shubha Kumar

Unintended Consequences of Impact
by Andrea Nelson Trice

January 2023

Three Questions From a Newcomer About Measuring Social Impact in Impact Investing
by Andrea Azevedo

What Was Learned From a Teaching Case on the Role of Evaluation in Corporate Supply Chains and Gender Equity 
by Courtney Bolinson

How to Defend Against Impact Washing with Zones of Greater Scrutiny (ZOGS) 
by John Gargani

Cheese Cake: Why Must We Lead IMM Practices 
by Daniel Brandão

IMM at the Mission Investors Exchange National Conference: Power, Systems, and Building Bridges 
by Laura Budzyna

Lessons from Building a Body of Knowledge for Impact Measurement and Management 
by Allison Ricket

Collecting Better Gender Data from Businesses in Low- and Middle-income Countries (LMICs): How Evaluators Can Help Close the Evidence Gap of Financial Returns 
by Heather Esper, Yaquta Fatehi and Ben Fowler

October 2022

Who Are the “New Actors” in Evaluation? An Evaluator’s Guide to Impact Investing, Social Finance, and Beyond 
by Shawna Hoffman and Courtney Bolinson

How Does Evaluation Look Different for Traditional Actors and Impact Investors? 
by Farahnaz Karim

Lessons from the Intersection of Evaluation x Entrepreneurship 
by Nina Sabarre

How to Connect Impact Measurement Across Sectors? Anchor in Purpose. 
by Laura Budzyna

Standardized IMM Frameworks are Signposts for Your IMM Journey, Not the Destination 
by Nora Prahar, Donna Loveridge and Fabiola Lopez-Gomez

Gender Lens Investors: Invest Resources to Build Capacity and Apply a Gender Lens on Impact Measurement and Management 
by Yaquta Kanchwala Fatehi

Impact & Analytics: Risks & Opportunities of New Actors & Digital Technologies in Evaluation 
by Jason Block

July 2022

Why Should Evaluators Care About Impact Washing in Private Sector Investments? 
by Ewa Sobczyska

Impact Measurement and Management (IMM) Must be Intentional, Humble, and Right-Sized 
by Catherine Dun Rappaport

Making Sense of Social Value in Foundation Impact Investments: The Importance of Accessible Impact Measurement Frameworks 
by Kirsten Andersen

Engaging Founders and Teams with Impact Management and Measurement (IMM) 
by Daniel Brandão

Ventures at the Helm
by Laura Budzyna

Evaluating the Return on Investment of Social Inclusion 
by Ben Fowler and Erin Markel

Evaluative Thinking and Public Policy: Taking Advantage of Opportunities 
by Courtney Bolinson and John Sherman

March 2021

Evaluation and Gender Lens Investing 
by Courtney Bolinson and Lucy Wakiaga

Corporate Monitoring & Evaluation: Setting Up a CoP to Tackle Challenges of an Emerging Practice 
by Sasha Zoueva

The SDG Impact Standards 
by Belissa Rojas

What is it Like Measuring the Social Impact of… Ourselves? 
by Leah Goldstein Moses

Tips for Examining and Addressing Inequity 
by Heather Esper

Putting Stakeholder Voice at the Heart of Social Impact Measurement 
by Ben Fowler

December 2020

Love the Connectors: The Measurable Value of an Ecosystem Focused on Social Impact 
by Leah Goldstein Moses

Lessons for Evaluating the Impacts of Accelerators 
by Ben Fowler, Erin Markel, and Amanda Woomer

Transformative Evaluation and Impact Investing: A Fruitful Marriage 
by Courtney Bolinson and Donna M. Mertens

Impact Investing, Public Policy, and Evaluation: Opportunity and Obligation 
by John Sherman

Accelerating Action in Impact Measurement & Management Today, Together 
by Samira Khan & Eric Barela

The Growing Case for Evaluation in Social Finance and Impact Investing 
by Veronica Olazabal

November 2019

Bridging, Translating and Welcoming Non-evaluators Into AEA 
by the leaders of the SIM TIG

Grantmakers, Grantees and Evaluators Learning Together 
by Jill Lipski and John Fetzer

Integrating Impact Management Into The Private Equity Lifecycle 
by Gwendolyn Zorn

Listening To Each Other: Achieving Impact Through The Private Sector In Emerging Markets 
by Debby Nixon Williams, Alyna Wyatt and Alisee de Tonnac

Evaluation And Impact Investing: Webinar Series Explores Using Evaluative Thinking in Social Finance And Impact Investing 
by John Sherman

Evaluators: You’re Invited To The Social Impact Party! 
by Jane Reisman and Leah Goldstein Moses

May 2019

How people in non-evaluation fields inform impact measurement, and how evaluation informs their work
by Irene Basile

Moving beyond scale: the importance of capturing feedback from your target audience 
by Sachi Shenoy

How to best integrate respective areas of expertise toward a common purpose 
by Joanna Cohen

Developmental evaluation provides outcomes in real-time 
by Olivia Rebanal

The unavoidable impact of impact 
by Nicole Martens

The most important impacts are not measurable—does that skew things? 
by Simon Dixon

October 2018

Evaluator Engagement in the Evolution of Social Impact Measurement 
by Jane Reisman and Alyna Wyatt

Bridging evaluation and impact measurement and management
by Sara McGarraugh, Leah Goldstein Moses and Ben Fowler

Using poverty data to speak truth to power in impact investing
by Heather Esper

Driving the Measurement of Social Investment towards 2030: Integrating the SDG’s into Impact Investment Monitoring Systems 
by Debby Nixon Williams, Noel Verrinder and Kagiso Zwane

Evaluating Social Impact with a Participatory Mixed Method 
by Carter Garber

How to Integrate Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) into Impact Measurement Practice 
by Victoria Carlan

April 2018

Social Impact Measurement: What is this all about? 
by Jane Reisman and Alyna Wyatt

Untangling Cross-Sector Miscommunications: The Impact Management Glossary 
by Michael Harnar

Integrating an evaluator into a non-evaluation team 
by Courtney Bolinson and Muthoni Wachira

Four Uses of Evaluation in Pay for Success Projects 
by Brian Beachkofski

Social + Business Metrics Power Couples 
by Rebecca Baylor, Heather Esper and Yaquta Fatehi

Capturing job creation impacts 
by Ben Fowler and Richard Horne

May 2017

The Many Faces of Social Impact Measurement 
by Leah Goldstein Moses and Jill Lipski Cain

Will Impact Investing Fulfill Its Development Promise? 
by Robert Picciotto

The Currency of Social Impact Measurement 
by Mishkah Jakoet and Amreen Choda

The Pay for Success Model 
by Brian Beachkofski and Jeannie Friedman

Using Multi-Dimensional Poverty Outcomes in Measurement 
by Heather Esper and Yaquta Fatehi

Powerful Assumptions 
by Andrea Nelson Trice

February 2017

Kicking-off Social Impact Measurement (SIM) Week 
by Veronica Olazabal and Shawna Hoffman

Bridging Evaluation and Impact Investing 
by Jane Reisman

Impact measurement in impact investing and international development – what’s the diff? 
by Donna Loveridge

Social Impact Measurement to Social Impact Analysts: You Complete Me 
by Sara Olsen and Kate Ruff

Working Together: The Impact Investing and Evaluation Communities 
by Kelly McCarthy

Training and Curriculum for Evaluating Impact Investing 
by Karim Harji and Ted Jackson