C06 Session: Models for Advocacy Evaluation

Models for Advocacy Evaluation

Friday, August 4, 4:00pm - 5:30pm

Track:  Advocacy and Social Change

Presenters

Ehren Reed and Jennifer Bagnell Stuart, Innovation Network, Inc.

Description

Advocacy and public policy initiatives present many evaluation challenges. For example, short-term outcomes and benchmarks are difficult to identify. The initiatives are often coalitions that bring together many organizations that are geographically disparate and/or provide different services; thus, they present significant challenges for engaging participants in the evaluation process. Drawing from a research project funded by the JEHT Foundation and The Atlantic Philanthropies that examined the evaluation practices of advocacy organizations, this session will discuss methodology, implementation challenges and success and strategies for sharing evaluation results with stakeholders and supporters.

About the Presenters

Ehren Reed, Innovation Network, Inc.

As Associate at Innovation Network, Ehren Reed oversees and coordinates program planning and evaluation initiatives with nonprofit organizations and foundations.

Mr. Reed is skilled in the creation and implementation of data collection instruments as well as quantitative and qualitative analysis. He facilitates and leads trainings and workshops in logic model development, evaluation planning, data collection, and data analysis and reporting. He develops training curricula and collateral materials and has contributed to the design and content of Innovation Network's online planning and evaluation tools for nonprofits.

Since joining Innovation Network in 2001, Mr. Reed's clients have included the Northwest Area Foundation, the Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, Legal Services Corporation, the Learning Circles Project, and Partners Against Hate (a project of the Anti-Defamation League, the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence, and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund).

Mr. Reed received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Education from the University of Connecticut.

Jennifer Bagnell Stuart, Innovation Network, Inc.

Jennifer Bagnell Stuart, Senior Associate, manages the development of Innovation Network's online tools and oversees their integration with our evaluation consulting practice. In her work at Innovation Network, Jennifer helps nonprofit organizations and foundations use evaluation as a tool for articulating outcomes and learning how to improve program effectiveness.

A unique combination of experience in the nonprofit and commercial sectors has given Jennifer tremendous enthusiasm for the social applications of IT and Internet technologies. She has ten years' experience in software development quality assurance and web development management in accordance with software development lifecycle procedures.

Prior to joining Innovation Network, Jennifer worked with The National Urban Technology Center (Urban Tech), a New York-based nonprofit dedicated to providing access to technology and training in under-served communities to address widening achievement and computer literacy gaps. Jennifer was responsible for strategic and program planning, implementation and evaluation of the program operating in partnerships with schools and community based organizations. In 2002, she designed and managed the successful launch of a web-based system for Urban Tech's youth development program that enrolls and tracks students’ progress and provides real-time outcome data and reporting to students, parents, teachers, and administrators.

Several years prior as Vice President at Wells Fargo Bank’s Internet Services Group, Jennifer directed teams, processes, and operations that contributed to making wellsfargo.com one of the three leading Internet banks in the world. Jennifer’s professional experience includes more than five years in public policy research and issue advocacy at several nonprofit organizations including the Women's Economic Agenda Project, a low-income women’s advocacy organization.

A native of Oakland, California, Jennifer holds a master's degree in international affairs from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) where she studied international trade and analyzed the impacts of globalization on labor and human rights. Jennifer holds a bachelor of arts in interdisciplinary studies from the University of California Berkeley where she authored her thesis, The Services Economy and the Stratification of Black and White Women in the Paid Labor Force (U.S.).