ImpactStory

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Positive Youth Development Measurement Toolkit

This toolkit provides implementers of youth programming a variety of references, resources, and tools on how to use a positive youth development (PYD) approach for evaluating youth-focused programming. A PYD approach to evaluation will measure whether youth are positively engaged in and benefiting from investments that ultimately empower them to develop in healthy and positive ways so that they can contribute to the development of their communities.

What is Theory of Change?

Theory of Change is essentially a comprehensive description and illustration of how and why a desired change is expected to happen in a particular context. It is focused in particular on mapping out or “filling in” what has been described as the “missing middle” between what a program or change initiative does (its activities or interventions) and how these lead to desired goals being achieved. This website includes everything you need to know in order to understand and create a Theory of Change.

Data Playbook

For purpose-driven organizations, data means more than just numbers and graphs–it is about understanding what more you can do to change lives and strengthen communities. The Data Playbook, from Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, provides the building blocks you need to put data to work for your mission through a measured approach to understanding and telling stories of impact.

Measuring Success How Robin Hood Estimates the Impact of Grants

Robin Hood fights poverty in New York City. The goal is to make grant decisions to maximize poverty-fighting impact, much like a financial manager chooses investments to maximize profit. The metrics project described in this manuscript has been designed to create just such a scorecard, showing ratios that guide investment decisions as financial rates and giving grants to programs that yield high benefit-cost ratios. Grant-making decisions rely on the detailed expertise of program officers as well as numerical calculations. Metrics are always under revision, a virtually never-ending project.

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