Funders invest in many efforts to drive progress on complex social issues. While they strive to maximize impact, sustainable change requires a convergence of opportunity: strategic investments, cross-sector collaboration, and favorable policy environments. Funders must pay close attention to opportunities and uncertainties around them, and how the changing political context influences efforts to advance social change. Likewise, evaluators often need to pivot and adapt as they help funders explore what works by evaluating strategies in real-time, make sense of the shift conditions, and share lessons with the broader field.
During this session, panelists will share how evaluators working with The California Endowment, one of California’s largest foundations, are applying diverse skills and approaches that respond to external shifts and support learning and adaptation. Examples will draw on evaluation activities associated with the Endowment’s advocacy and movement building efforts to expand health coverage in California.