Last week the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation invited a diverse group of foundation staff, evaluation professionals and social media experts to talk about measurement and evaluation of social media. You can get a feel for some of the topics and ideas that were shared by reading the Twitter activity captured by the hashtag #SM_RE. RWJF has also captured and organized the material related to this meeting on its website.

I found the meeting quite productive and helpful for those of us who think about evaluating our communications efforts and putting those evaluations in the context of our broader organizational goals. And although this subject might appear to be a bit too “in the weeds” for those who aren’t engaged in the evaluation of communications efforts, I would like to share some of the more interesting points that came up at the meeting.

A primary goal for the meeting was to identify how best to measure social media indicators for a common set of outcomes identified by the participants. The common outcomes were:

In April 2013, the following published articles mentioned the work of the Foundation or our grantees:

• Reducing traffic: Cities Can Promote Use of Transit and Cut Down on Costly Parking Spaces
  (San Jose Mercury News, 4/28/13)
• AUSD is Leading the Way
  (Antioch Herald, 4/23/13)
• Dual Enrollment Gives Struggling Students a College Try
  (Kitsap Sun, 4/19/13)
• State Schools Chief Praises Oxnard Union's Career Technology Education Program
  (Ventura County Star, 4/18/13)
• Redlands: County Museum hosts ‘Express Yourself’
  (Riverside Press-Enterprise, 4/18/13)
• Follow the Money Trail to Oz
  (Huffington Post, 4/2/13)

In March 2013, the following published articles mentioned the work of the Foundation or our grantees:

• Elk Grove Unified Starts New Career Program
  (Elk Grove Citizen, 3/28/13)
• Cathie Anderson: Sacramento Recycler Sees Businesses Upgrading Tech Equipment
  (Sacramento Bee, 3/25/13)
• Linked Learning Study Shows Narrowing of Achievement Gap
  (KPBS, 3/22/13)
• Most Californians Would Like a Viable Third Party
  (Central Valley Business Times, 3/20/13)
• PUSD Pathways Program Now a Model for Others
  (Porterville Recorder, 3/17/13)

MapLight — Our California Democracy program is supporting MapLight with a $400,000 grant to produce a comprehensive online voter guide, Voter’s Edge, with information through 2014 about state legislative candidates and state and local ballot measures. Voter’s Edge will include daily updates about state ballot measures, including arguments for and against each measure, lists of endorsers, links to commercials and media coverage and data about campaign contributions. MapLight plans to expand its site to provide such information about ballot issues in 50 California cities and counties, and also will provide nonpartisan information about candidates for state legislative and constitutional offices.

How does the Foundation think about “risk” in the context of its grantmaking strategies?

What is the proper role of government in social innovation?

In an interview last week on the Social Velocity blog, Irvine President and CEO Jim Canales discussed these and other questions with Social Velocity President Nell Edgington. The interview is one in a series of monthly discussions that Edgington conducts with leaders in the nonprofit sector. The interview is reprinted here:

Nell: One of the four grantmaking principles of the Irvine Foundation is “Invest in Organizations,” meaning that you are committed to providing grants to build nonprofit organizations (evaluation, operating support, infrastructure). This is a pretty radical idea for most foundations. What do you think holds other foundations back from this kind of investment and what will it take to get more of them to embrace the idea of organization building as opposed to just supporting direct programs?

Jim: This question of general operating support versus project support has been an ongoing debate in the nonprofit sector, and I’d like to suggest that we may be creating for ourselves a false dichotomy that may not be helpful. I’d suggest we focus on the end goal, not the means. Let’s start by asking the question: How can we maximize impact toward the shared goals of a foundation and its grantees? By asking the question in that way, we naturally have to explore whether we are investing sufficient resources, in the right ways, so that our grantee can have the impact we both seek.

In February 2013, the following published articles mentioned the work of the Foundation or our grantees:

• Nonprofit’s Coaches Teach Kids Games and Prevent Bullying
  (Chronicle of Philanthropy, 2/24/13)
• Internship Program Provides Students with 'Life-Changing' Opportunities in Health Field
  (Reporting on Health, 2/21/13)
• Foundation Honors Community Leaders
  (Vida en el Valle, 2/20/13)
• Program Guides Underrepresented Students to Health Professions
  (HealthyCal, 2/19/13)
• Award-winning Program Trains Next Generation of Diverse Health Professionals
  (Reporting on Health, 2/14/13)
• How To Improve Educational Performance? Bring Back Recess
  (Fast Company, 2/5/13)

In January 2013, the following published articles mentioned the work of the Foundation or our grantees:

• Linked learning Comes of Age in California With New Pilot Programs
  (EdSource, 1/29/13)
• County Conservation Leader Earns $125,000 Award: James Irvine Foundation Hails Karen Christensen's Leadership
  (Contra Costa Times, 1/24/13)
• Artists Prepare ‘Street’ Works for Playhouse’s Without Walls Festival
  (Rancho Santa Fe Review, 1/21/13)
• San Bernardino: County Regains Some Artistic Footing
  (Riverside Press Enterprise, 1/18/13)
• Study Tracks Sacramento City’s ‘Linked Learning’ Experience
  (EdSource, 1/17/13)
• Yucaipa School District to Take Part in Linked Learning
  (Yucaipa News Mirror, 1/17/13)
• Fresno Foundation Gives $600,000 Toward Student Achievement
  (Fresno Bee, 1/17/13)