Resources
The Annotated Guide to Tools & Resources provides tools, frameworks, and resources to help you develop and implement your evaluation. It’s a repository of useful, practical materials that can help you create an evaluation plan; design your evaluation approach; develop or adapt tools and instruments; and otherwise move your evaluation forward. This Guide has been assembled from many sources and fields and annotated by evaluator Suzanne Callahan of Callahan Consulting for the Arts.
Do you have a useful tool or resource to add?
Contact animatingdemocracy@artsusa.org with suggestions.
The Annotated Guide to Tools & Resources
Title |
Author | Description | Tags | |
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| A Developmental Evaluation Primer | Jamie A. A. Gamble | This paper defines developmental evaluation and addresses some myths. Offering an alternative approach to linear logic of traditional methods, developmental evaluation supports the process of innovation within an organization and its activities. The paper outlines developmental evaluation's uses in innovation and developing project ideas and defends the approach's credibility. It is an appropriate resource for organizations that work in an innovative manner and thus seems tailored to arts organi... | analysis approach, assessment, capacity building, context, cultural sensitivity, developmental evaluation, documentation, human capital, program monitoring, social entrepreneurship, social innovation, assessment tool, evaluators, foundations, grantmakers, policymakers, evaluation tool, practitioners, framework, researchers, report, working paper | |
| A Handbook of Data Collection Tools: Companion to A Guide to Measuring Advocacy and Policy |
Jane Reisman Anne Gienapp Sarah Stachowiak |
An outstanding piece, this 51-page handbook presents a great discussion of outcomes as they relate to policy and advocacy. Intended for grantmakers but useful for nonprofits as well, it encourages users to think about measurement of advocacy and policy efforts toward social change. It offers outcomes lists, examples of data collection tools, and many sample instruments from which users may benefit. It is designed in five main sections: measuring core outcome areas, tools and methods for other e... | advocacy, case-making, civic engagement, data collection, evaluation, evidence-based evaluation, impacts, indicators, outcomes, policy, qualitative data, sample, social change, social impact, surveys, grantmakers, evaluation tool, practitioners, framework, guide, interactive questions, manual, overview, sample evaluation tools | |
| Action Evaluation | Jay Rothman | This 5-page article on Action Evaluation from the Beyond Intractability website provides a knowledge base and tools regarding social conflict resolution and community reconciliation. This article assists participants, funders, and facilitators in reaching consensus about what they seek to accomplish (people's goals), why (their values and beliefs), and how (suggested account strategies). The article addresses the process in three stages: establishing the baseline, formative monitoring, and summa... | action evaluation, conflict resolution, evaluation, goals, implementation evaluation, measurement, reconciliation, framework | |
| Advocacy Evaluation Project | Innovation Network, Inc. (Innonet) | The Advocacy Evaluation Project, orchestrated by Innovation Network (Innonet), began in 2005 to move the field of advocacy evaluation beyond assessing policy change into one that considers more fundamental and contributory components of advocacy efforts: capacity building, network formation, relationship building, communication, issue framing, and leadership development. In Phase I the Advocacy Evaluation Resource Center was created. Now a part of Innonet's Point K Learning Center (which r... | accountability, advocacy, capacity building, case-making, community indicators, data collection, evaluation, impacts, indicators, measurement, methodological strategies, outcomes, resources, social impact, assessment tool, bibliography, database, evaluation tool, framework, guide, indicators, interactive guide, online tools, sample evaluation tools, website | |
| Art and Culture in Communities: A Framework for Measurement |
Maria Rosario Jackson Joaquin Harranz |
Based on several years of field research in communities around the U.S., this six-page brief presents an insightful framework for better capturing and measuring arts, culture, and creative expression at the neighborhood level. Based on Urban Institute's in-depth work in this area over many years, the brief outlines four principles that guide this work on arts and culture in community building: (1) definitions of art, culture, and creativity depend on the cultural values, preferences, and realiti... | arts-related, community building, cultural sensitivity, evaluation, indicators, report | |
| Art and Soul Project Community Survey, Starksboro, VT, Orton Family Foundation | Chris Dwyer | This item relates to the Preliminary Menu of Possible Outcomes/Indicators/Measures from the Starksboro Art and Soul Project, as both are part of the Art and Soul Project. This item is a ten page community survey with thirty questions. The survey is an adaptation of a standard survey developed by the Orton Family Foundation to use in tracking changes in perceptions about land use planning in all their Heart and Soul community projects. The Preliminary Menu is a table relating outcomes, indicators... | active citizenship, community building, core values, data collection, environmental, environmental issues, human capital, quantatative measures, social capital, surveys, evaluation tool, interactive questions, sample evaluation tools | |
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Artists Engaging in Social Change: A Continuum of Impact | |||
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Arts and Civic Engagement: Briefing Paper for Working Group of the Arts and Civic Engagement Impact Initiative | Chris Dwyer | Written for Animating Democracy's Arts and Civic Engagement Impact Initiative Working Group, this 14- page paper presents a conceptual framework (or logic model) for arts-based engagement. It offers a discussion of the components of the framework, and a list of questions to guide research explorations. It defines and gives examples of each element: programmatic initiative in terms of the core arts element and related civic/social purpose; context; implementation choices and actions; in... | arts-related, civic engagement, context, evaluation, impacts, implementation evaluation, intermediate effects, logic model, outcomes, program design, social capacity, framework, working paper |
| Arts and Culture Indicators Project |
Maria Rosario Jackson Florence Kabwasa-Green |
The site offers an overview of Urban Institute's Arts and Culture Indicators Project, defines cultural vitality, briefly addresses cultural vitality indicators, offers case study examples, and gives abstracts and links to high-quality relevant research studies. The site is a beautiful resource for arts and civic engagement practitioners and policymakers. Graphically strong with top notch research, it is a model for the field. Civic leaders and heads of large organizations could review this site ... | arts-related, cultural vitality, indicators, quantatative measures, evaluators, foundations, policymakers, practitioners, researchers, website | |
| Arts and Social Exclusion: A Review Prepared for the Arts Council of England | Helen Jermyn | This 43-page report is a literature review commissioned by the Arts Council of England to support its two-year social inclusion research program. It examines the impact of arts in addressing social exclusion with the purpose of informing the design of the research and placing it in a policy context. The first section attempts to define social exclusion, offers ideas and obstacles to measuring it, and relates it to the arts. It describes the government’s Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) that was cre... | arts-related, evaluation, impacts, indicators, measurement, policy, social inclusion, report | |
| Build Your Advocacy Grantmaking: Advocacy Evaluation Tool & Advocacy Capacity Assessment Tool | Alliance for Justice | Published by the Alliance for Justice, this highly useful, interactive guide has two major parts: the Advocacy Capacity Assessment Tool (13 pages) and the Advocacy Evaluation Tool (11 pages). The graphically pleasing guide is made for foundations and grantees to help improve evaluation methods given the difficulties of showing cause-and-effect between advocacy and policy change. A user-friendly introduction explains the purpose of the tools, suggested uses, a definition for advocacy, how the too... | advocacy, assessment, evaluation, assessment tool, grantmakers, evaluation tool, indicators, interactive guide | |
| Building Capacity in Evaluating Outcomes | Ellen Taylor-Powell | This extensive online guide and Powerpoint presentation is a comprehensive yet basic manual written for trainers and facilitators. Presented in user friendly language, the guide is almost like an encyclopedia for evaluation. It is also a teaching and facilitating resource for community-based programs and organizations. The graphics and language used are slightly dated, but the ideas are well presented. It provides 93 activities and materials for practitioners working in and with community-based... | community building, data collection, evaluation, facilitators, guide, manual | |
| California Endowment | The California Endowment believes that evaluation represents an important opportunity to assess achievements, generate knowledge and cultivate learning. It works to support grantees, evaluators and others interested in learning more about culturally competent health evaluation. Its website has a wealth of resources, reports, and articles useful to both funders and practitioners. | advocacy, arts-related, evaluation, process evaluation, resources, website | ||
| Center for Community Mapping | Based in Princeton, this organization provides mapping technology services to nonprofits, individuals, and educational institutions. This gives a good example of how GIS technology can be used in creating different types of maps. Not a how-to guide, this site offers examples of products that may be useful in arts and civic engagement work. The Center for Community Mapping seeks to unify and strengthen communities by offering individuals, non-profit organizations, and educational institutions ... | community mapping, overview | ||
| Connecting Californians: Finding the Art of Community Change, an inquiry into the role of story in strengthening communities |
Dudley Cocke Linda Frye Burnham Erica Kohl Craig McGarvey |
"Connecting Californians" reports on a research project completed in 2000, that explored story as a powerful means of building community. The project conducted a search in each of California's 58 counties to find projects that engaged residents in a public performance or story about local history and life. Maps were created to represent the various projects. It is a helpful model for collaborative planning and discussion regarding the arts, culture, and civil society. Althoug... | analysis approach, arts-related, capacity building, community building, community indicators, context, core values, enthographic evaluation, experimental methods, participation, social impact, report |
