Measuring power and the power of measurement

Abstract Information: Organizations are working for racial justice and equity and building political power in their communities. Yet too often evaluation measures and assessments focus at an organizational level and not at an ecosystem level to understand how progress is being achieved and power is growing for our communities. Foundations and funders demand metrics of progress and success that are often out of synch with community interests, timelines, and capacities. In addition, community organizing groups have often not been able to rely on or build adequate and appropriate evaluation assistance, in part due to a lack of resources for evaluation, but also because many traditional evaluation measures and methods do not appropriately meet the learning and measurement needs of community power builders. Inatai Foundation and The California Endowment are among a group of funders that have prioritized their attention and investment in power building and the social infrastructure that supports power building in communities, especially BIPOC communities. This new work has pushed the funders to consider what is appropriate and helpful (to community) to measure and report -- and which tools and methods are most useful to the real-time learning needs of community organizers and power builders. This has also required the inclusion of new measurement approaches and tools (and capacity to use them) like power mapping, narrative change assessment, documenting mindset shifts, and mapping networks and their effectiveness. These foundations will share their separate but similar efforts to co-design measures of power with organizations who are moving power-building agendas. They will share how organizations are looking at the political context and conditions of their communities (rural, midsize cities and urban centers) and what we are learning organizers say is most salient to measure over time so funders can best support power-building efforts. This session will also introduce metrics and measurement tools that are being used effectively by power builders and engage participants in discussion of these tools and need for additional tools and measures. At the end of the session, participants will (1) Understand what power-building looks like and why it is essential to fund community organizing. (2) Understand why an ecosystem level approach is helpful to know how power is increasing for our communities and (3) Learn why this kind of change (and measurement) requires a long-term investment and evaluation approach.