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              Lessons From the Social Innovation Fund: A Tested Evaluation Technical Assistance Approach to Strengthening Evaluation Practice and Building a Body of Evidence
      Back
                Introduction

The Social Innovation Fund (SIF), is a federal tiered evidence initiative that received funding from 2010 to 2016. The key objectives of the initiative were to invest in:

Promising interventions that address social and community challenges and grow their impact.
	Evaluation and capacity building in order to support the development and use of rigorous evidence to measure the effectiveness of each funded intervention (i.e., to “move the evidence needle”) and inform decision making.All federal initiatives have some form of embedded evaluation technical assistance (ETA) component in order to make them operational. AmeriCorps developed a comprehensive ETA program organized around a flexible coaching model that included individual consultation and customized resource development. The ETA program activities were tied to the evaluation planning, implementation, monitoring, and reporting expectations and requirements of the SIF. Empirical evidence of the SIF ETA’s effectiveness is found in three sources as follows:

Findings from the SIF National Assessment which provides rigorous evidence that the program was successful in building the evaluation capacity and practices of participating organizations,
	Caliber of the evaluation designs implemented by SIF grantees, and
	Credibility of the positive and causal findings obtained through successful implementation of these evaluation designs.Purpose

The purpose of this article is to discuss the structure and key features of the SIF as a grant making model, its evaluation requirements, its embedded approach and process for evaluation capacity building (ECB), and the delivery of the ETA. It also discusses the tools and resources that ETA generated to support its goals, the evidence supporting its success, and how those lessons can inform other organizations and initiatives.

Discussion

This discussion is organized in two sections:

Early Challenges and Opportunities
	AmeriCorps’ operationalization of the ETA program and its requirements experienced a number of early challenges. These challenges required adjustments and in many ways informed the development of the ETA program.
	Lessons Learned From the SIF ETA Program
	Leadership prioritization.
		Trusting relationships.
		Timing matters.
		Customized coaching models.
		Dedicated resources.
		Progress measurement and a strong feedback loop are important for continuous program improvement and achieving the intended goals of ETA.For more information, download the full report.

      Full report
      

      Full Report
            SIF ETA Article_published by Hyde Zandiapour
        Further information
    



      Program/Intervention
                        Best Practice Dissemination
  

      Implementing Organization
                        Office of Research and Evaluation
  

      Intermediary(s)
                        None
  

      AmeriCorps Program(s)
            Social Innovation Fund
                  Office of Research and Evaluation
  

      Focus Population(s)/Community(s)
            Opportunity Youth
                  Schools
                  Nonprofits
                  Tribes
                  Veterans and Military Families
                  Rural
                  Suburban
                  Urban
                  Low-income
  

      Outcome Category
            Financial literacy
                  Economic Opportunity
                  Housing
                  Employment
                  K-12 success
                  Education
                  Post-secondary educational support
                  School readiness
                  Obesity and food
                  Healthy Futures
                  Access to care
                  Disaster assistance provided
                  Disaster Services
                  Nonprofit development
                  Improving AmeriCorps
  

      Study Type(s)
            Published Articles
  

      Study Design(s)
            Non-experimental
  

      Researcher/Evaluator
                        Office of Research and Evaluation
  

      Published Year
                        2020 Back to main content Sign up to hear about our latest news, events, and opportunities.
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