The Changing Role of Evaluators
When foundations first started engaging with evaluation about 40 years ago, evaluators primarily needed to apply social science research skills and answer questions about the impacts of individual grants. As philanthropy has evolved in the years since, evaluators also have had to become theorists, strategists, strategic communicators, systems thinkers, and now coaches, facilitators, and trainers. Julia Coffman, Director of the Center for Evaluation Innovation and longtime evaluation consultant to foundations, explored that history and its implications for evaluators and foundations, and then invited others into a discussion about how we can effectively manage the high expectations that exist around the evaluation role. Check out her related article in Medium.