Social Change Grantmaking
Mid-term evaluation of a global grantmaking program supporting civil society organizations promoting climate resilience with a justice lens.
Conducted an end of project Learning Review of the SABI program, a fiveyear citizen-led accountability program in Sierra Leone funded by UK Aid and led by Christian Aid.
Led an evaluation of the £23m STAR Ghana governance program in Ghana implemented by Christian Aid using outcome harvesting methodology.
Nonviolent Movements and Material Resources in Northwest Mexico
Three case studies of how socioenvironmental movements in northwest Mexico mobilize resources, funded by the International Center for Nonviolent Conflict.
Evaluation of a Gates Foundation-funded agriculture and climate change adaptation advocacy program in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Italy, The Netherlands, Brussels (focused on the EU), and Addis Ababa/Nairobi (focused on the African Union). The evaluation used Outcome Harvesting methodology.
Closing Civil Society Space: What Environmental Funders Need to Know
Prepared a briefing document for environmental funders on the closing space of civil society around the world, based on the results of a funder workshop, background literature, and interviews, funded by the Funders Initiative on Civil Society and Global Greengrants Fund UK.
Crackdown on Environmental Action: How Funders Can Respond
A review of how environmental and conservation funders are finding new ways to support civil society organizations as restrictions on their work rapidly increase, published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review.
Consulted with 40 grantmakers and support organizations to write a study of how funders maintain functions in the face of the closing space of civil society around the world, Resilient Funders. The study was published in The Foundation Review, funded by the Global Fund for Community Foundations and the Global Greengrants Fund.
Strategic Framework of the International Funders of Indigenous Peoples
Conducted a Strategic Assessment, including review of the past five years and creation of a Strategic Framework and Impact Assessment Plan for the next five years, using informant interviews, document review, and facilitating a systems mapping workshop. WE guided participants to map the systems of funding for Indigenous Peoples issues, and the social networks they involve. We then agreed on the most likely paths of influence through these maps that would allow a small organization to achieve big changes in this ever shifting environment. We also conducted a mid-term review after three years of implementation.
Building Movements through Grantmaking in Mexico
Designed and facilitated a series of two workshops with the team at Fondo Acción Solidaria (FASOL) in Mexico, showing how a conceptual framework for movement building can be a powerful guide for practical grantmaking. Working with a team from INSAD and Civil Society Transitions, we guided the staff and advisors of FASOL to make their grantmaking more strategic. FASOL is on the cutting edge of social change grantmaking in Mexico, and is leading efforts to change the way grantmakers there do business.
Led this research project with two researchers and Greengrants staff overseas. It is a summary of Global Greengrants Fund case studies in Ghana and Peru of the effectiveness of small grants to civil society to support social movement strategies responding to the mining industry. At the same time, the research contributed to formulation of a Greengrants strategy to create a more profound impact and deeper coherence in its small grants program. The study gave practical recommendations for how to work on wicked problems using small grants, and has been very helpful in working with grantmakers since that time.
Supporting successful movements
This piece is a distillation our experience with how funding can build social movements, one of the most important ways to build lasting change.
Supporting Social Movements with Grantmaking
This is a PowerPoint presentation we did for a meeting convened by the Arcus Foundation, showing how grantmaking with a movement lens supported the growth of movements to deal with industrial mining in Peru and Ghana.