Giving Compass' Take:

• Katie Donnelly, writing for Media Impact Funders, discusses how equitable evaluation for funders is necessary and offers thoughtful considerations on how to move forward. 

• How can donors center equity in evaluations more often? Where should they start? 

• Read more about embedding equity practices into philanthropic evaluations. 

As protests for racial justice continue in cities across the U.S., more and more institutions are publicly reckoning with their own roles in perpetuating system racism. In the journalism space, a debate about the concept of objectivity is raging: whose view is considered “objective”? Do “both sides” of an issue always demand equal weight? Some journalists are questioning the concept of “objectivity” altogether, and opting for “moral clarity” instead. Within philanthropy, foundations are being called upon to explore and correct their roles in upholding inequity.

But what about the seemingly “objective” practice of impact evaluation, one of the most established ways that foundations measure impact? While evaluation is often used to determine whether or not an organization or effort was successful, it is important to look at whether the evaluation processes themselves are rooted in inequity.

In implementing evaluation frameworks and practices, funders and evaluators may not be stopping to consider a range of questions about whether evaluation processes are being conducted through an equity lens.

EEI, led by Jara Dean-Coffey, is inviting funders and other partners to come together to reimagine evaluation in service of equity. Now in year two, EEI is focused on the mindset shifts that must happen in order for true change to take place. (Learn more about EEI’s specific five-year goals here.) “If you are committed to equity (in any form),” said Dean-Coffey, “You have a particular mandate to reconceptualize what evaluation is for and about. It is time to interrogate and make explicit the values and assumptions and assure they make sense for the complexity of the 21st century.”

Read the full article about equitable evaluation by Katie Donnelly at Media Impact Funders.