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The author of this article describes her methodology for developing and implementing an ambitious community organizing evaluation project. The evaluations are also included in RECO under the listing Strengthening Democracy, Increasing Opportunities: Impacts of Advocacy, Organizing, and Civic Engagement in Minnesota, New Mexico, and North Carolina. She outlines the reasons for this evaluation as being part of a multi-tiered strategy to develop more comfort and familiarity with organizing among the funders. In addition to measuring the impact of organizing, this strategy involved relating organizing to foundation’s philanthropic missions and increasing knowledge among funders of the organizing process.
The author describes her process of developing metrics for evaluating organizing. The major metric described in the article is a return on investment that compares the economic value of organizing victories to the investment needed to obtain these wins. The author details both the challenges and benefits associated with this metric. As she describes the development of the metric, the author includes several excerpts from the evaluation tool itself.
In addition to describing her process for developing the metrics, the author also describes her process of applying the metrics in actual evaluation studies. In doing so, she also summarizes several of the key successful strategies and approaches that emerged from her evaluation.
The resource concludes with specific recommendations for funders interested in exploring the possibility of supporting organizing and advocacy work. | 
