Evaluation Resources
NFWF uses evaluation to foster learning and adaptive management to
improve the quality of our conservation investments. This site provides
information on a variety of evaluation functions within the
Foundation.
Evaluation of Grant Programs
Evaluation principles and practices are incorporated into the
foundation's Keystones
and Charter Programs to better clarify program and initiative
goals, gauge progress over time, assess achievement of outcomes, and
continuously improve.
The Grants Library
To disseminate knowledge to the conservation community, NFWF has
developed a searchable, online Grants Library
which currently contains information on over 3,000 NFWF-funded grant
projects and a number of NFWF program
evaluations.
The Environmental Evaluators Network and eCommunity
Launched in 2006, NFWF, U.S. EPA, and U.S. NOAA co-host an
annual forum for environmental evaluators and practitioners. From this
forum emerged an Environmental Evaluators Network
and Environmental Evaluators Network group on LinkedIn,
EEN's primary online platform for collaboration, discussion, and
networking!
Featured 2010 EEN Annual Forum Presentation
Through the five years that the Environmental Evaluators Network has
been in existence, many fantastic minds have converged and helped
further the capacity of doing evaluations in the environmental arena. We
were particularly fortunate at the 2010 Forum on June 7-8 to have
Eleanor Chelimsky as a participant. As many of you know, Eleanor has a
long, distinguished career in the evaluation profession, including work
at GAO where she ran an evaluation unit of about 100 social scientists
(the Program Evaluation and Methodology Division) doing evaluations for
the Congress. Under her leadership, PEMD pioneered the use of new
methodologies and performed evaluations in almost every subject area.
She was President of the Evaluation Research Society and of the American
Evaluation Association and received GAO's top honor, the Comptroller
General's Award. She is currently a member of AEA's Evaluation Policy
Task Force, working on ways to improve both the understanding and
performance of evaluation in the Federal Government. We are fortunate to
have a copy of the speech that she presented at the EEN Forum. We hope
you take the time to read it and absorb its lessons. It's a must read
for any evaluator.
Navigating
Evaluative Complexity in the Age of Obama
Evaluation Publications
NFWF evaluation staff recently co-edited and edited special volumes
on environmental evaluation in two journals.
- New Directions in Evaluation (Summer 2009)—volume
focused on methodological issues constraining environmental program and
policy evaluations.
- Journal of Evaluation and Program Planning (March
2010)—volume focuses on evaluation of environmental education
efforts.
For further information, contact the foundation's Evaluation
Officers: Matthew
Birnbaum or Christina
Kakoyannis.
