BTW informing change
The Debrief

July 2010
Greetings!
BTW informing change is excited to share some new research and discussion topics that are the result of our work over the past quarter. We find these topics interesting and relevant to advancing the philanthropic and nonprofit fields, and we want to share our current learnings with you! 
 Join the Discussion
  • Although more attention is being paid to diversifying top-tier leadership in foundations, boards and senior teams of philanthropic institutions are woefully lacking diversity. What can foundations do to truly diversify leadership? Join Lande Ajose in a discussion about rethinking what diversity means in philanthropic settings.
Blog - Ideas!
Research & Publications
Building Community Collaboratives and Caring for Our Children
California only has enough licensed child care spaces for one quarter of the state's children. To address this astounding shortage, the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) launched the ABCD Initiative in 2003 to support the development of quality child care facilities. In a recent report, BTW examines one strategy of the ABCD Initiative--Constructing Connections. Through this strategy, LIIF supported local collaborative teams consisting of child care operators, developers, civic leaders, small business leaders and other stakeholders in 11 California counties. These collaborative teams worked together to identify and eliminate local and regional barriers to child care facilities development, streamline the development process and provide support to new child care construction projects.

Bridging Clinics with Communities: The Role of Community Health PromotersCHP Cover
Community health workers, public health aides, promotores and peer educators are all terms used to describe the role of community health promoters. These workers are recruited from communities to apply their knowledge of the area and their personal connections with residents to promote the public's health. Read more about BTW's work with the Community Clinics Initiative in documenting the role and effectiveness of community health promoters in their Networking for Community Health grantmaking program.

A Tale of Two Nonprofits and Their Coaching Projects
Two nonprofits, LeaderSpring in California and The Center for Leadership Innovation (TCLI) in Maryland, recently embarked on individual projects to offer coaching to nonprofit leaders. The projects, supported by the Coaching and Philanthropy Project, differ greatly in the structure and type of coaching. BTW examined both models and wrote two reports that highlight key strengths of each model and offer considerations for others who would like to support similar types of coaching efforts. The first report examines LeaderSpring's project which integrates coaching into their existing leadership program. The second report looks at TCLI's project which offers both peer coaching and one-on-one coaching to leaders.
Tools & Resources
Evaluation Capacity Diagnostic Tool
What capacity does an organization need to effectively engage in evaluation activities? This question can be answered by administering the Evaluation Capacity Diagnostic Tool. Organizational leaders complete a short survey that captures information about the organization's current needs and staff's experience with evaluation. BTW designed the tool with support from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation so that organizational leaders can identify strong areas of evaluation capacity, understand their areas for improvement and monitor changes in capacity over time.
Events Calendar
CalendarSharing Our Stories, Creating Our Future
What: CompassPoint Nonprofit Services' 23rd Annual Nonprofit Day Conference
Where: San Francisco, California
When: August 31, 2010
Who: Check CompassPoint's Web site for registration information.

BTW Principal, Ellen Irie will be attending this conference.
 
California's Community Clinics and Health Centers: Reform, Response, Resiliency
What: California Primary Care Association's Annual Conference
Where: Sacramento, California
When: October 7-8, 2010
Who: Registration is now open for members and non-members.

BTW's Director of Evaluation and Organizational Learning Kim Ammann Howard, along with Marissa Tirona of CompassPoint Nonprofit Services and Brenda Shipp of Lifelong Medical Clinic, will present highlights from recent research on the next generation of community clinic leaders, an especially important topic as the state implements health care reform.
 
The Fierce Urgency of Now: Fulfilling the Promise of Excellence and Equity
What: Grantmakers for Education Annual Conference
Where: New Orleans, Louisiana
When: October 27-29, 2010  
Who: Check their Web site to see when registration opens. Conference attendees are limited to education grantmakers.

BTW Managing Director Lande Ajose and Kristi Kimball, Education Program Officer at The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, will present highlights from the newly published monograph "Measuring the Immeasurable: Lessons for Building Grantee Capacity to Evaluate Hard-to-Assess Efforts." Session participants will hear from a funder, an evaluator and a grantee about their newly developed tool and how an approach to evaluation capacity building enables grantee organizations to reflect on and improve their work.
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