Oct 20, 2020

Funder and Evaluator Affinity Network;

Partnerships between evaluation firms have many benefits for both funders and evaluators. The benefits can include increased quality of evaluation and collaboration, greater equity for all stakeholders, and stronger field capacity for learning at scale.Over the last six months, we assembled a work team of seven funders and 11 evaluators to explore how more formal partnerships between evaluation firms can increase collective knowledge within the field and ultimately strengthen philanthropy.Our group identified key rationales for establishing such partnerships as well as emergent best practices in creating and maintaining successful partnerships, analyzed barriers that impede funders and evaluators from pursuing partnerships more frequently, and articulated some field-level strategy to counteract those barriers. In this brief, we share some of our most valuable insights, and a working draft of a best practice guide and decision tool that could, if further developed, aid the field in establishing stronger collaborations between evaluation firms.