There is an emerging trend in the philanthropic sector toward being more deliberate about the intersection of strategy and evaluation. Foundations and nonprofits are being more intentional about learning from their work by evaluating their programs and initiatives, but often lack an overarching structure that brings all their evaluation activities together into a comprehensive evaluation strategy. What should be the components of this cohesive evaluation strategy? One way to start is by understanding the concept of evaluation systems. They describe learning in terms of “why”, “how”, “when”, and “by and with whom”, and determine to what extent various programs, initiatives, processes, or policies will be evaluated and with what resources. This session will help practitioners understand the components of an evaluation system, and explain its benefits and challenges. The presentation will provide practical examples from foundations to illustrate how it can best be applied.#2012Conference #Non-ProfitsandFoundationsEvaluation