In 2008, The James Irvine Foundation launched the Families Improving Education (FIE) initiative to support parental involvement in K–12 educational policymaking, particularly among low-income, ethnic and immigrant communities. The Irvine Foundation partnered with Families In Schools to build the capacity of organizations to engage parents in the San Joaquin Valley and Inland Empire. Evaluation by Harder+Company Community Research of the initiative’s first four years showed that parent advocacy can influence education policy decision makers for more effective reform.

Download the highlights (April 2013) (PDF, 174 KB)

Download the executive summary (April 2013) (PDF, 160 KB)

Download the full report (April 2013) (PDF, 10 MB)

In 2010, the Irvine Foundation joined a group of nine other foundations in a collaborative effort to increase civic participation among communities of color and other underrepresented populations in four California counties – San Diego, Orange, San Bernardino and Rivers. The collaboration, called the California Civic Participation Funders, included a diverse range of funders, from large to small, focusing on a wide range of issues, and including both 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 organizations. This case study by the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund shares lessons learned from this ongoing effort for other funders who might be interested in the collaboration’s approach.

Download Report (April 2012) (PDF, 450 KB)

From 2008 to 2010, the Hewlett, Irvine and Packard Foundations collaborated on a major initiative to build the management capacity of 27 California nonprofits dedicated to civic engagement and community organizing. The initiative sought to strengthen these organizations by focusing on such key areas as leadership, decision making, communication and fundraising. This report, by TCC Group, which managed the initiative, examines the lessons learned, including what strategies were most effective at changing organizational behavior and how to predict an organization’s readiness for building capacity. The lessons are relevant to any nonprofit organization or funder seeking to create greater impact.

Download Report (July 2011) (PDF, 1 MB)

This report offers new insights about voter mobilization strategies used in our California Votes Initiative. Launched in 2006, the initiative supported nine nonprofit organizations as they reached out to infrequent voters in low-income and ethnic communities in the San Joaquin Valley and parts of Southern California. This publication, the third and final report on the initiative, summarizes findings from the entirety of the project’s experiments. It examines the long-term effects of voter mobilization and the effects of specific approaches, such as canvassing and phone calls, on voter attitudes toward politics and political engagement. Qualitative analyses explore the components of a successful get-out-the-vote campaign and identify five practices organizations of many types may use to increase turnout.

Download Report (November 2009) (PDF, 215 KB)

This report identifies a set of best practices for significantly increasing voting rates in ethnic and low-income communities. Research was conducted as part of the Foundation's California Votes Initiative which aims to increase voting rates in the San Joaquin Valley and parts of Southern California. The findings show how specific approaches for contacting potential voters can raise participation — particularly among population groups who are underrepresented at the ballot box. This update on the initial findings, published in September 2007 (available here), includes new insights gleaned from outreach conducted prior to the February and June 2008 elections.

Download Report (September 2008) (PDF, 222 KB)

Download one-page summary (September 2008) (PDF, 160 KB)

This report evaluates the effectiveness of various voter outreach strategies designed to increase turnout among infrequent voters in California. As part of the California Votes Initiative, the Irvine Foundation supports a group of nonprofit organizations enlisted to mobilize voters in low-income and ethnic communities in the San Joaquin Valley and parts of Southern California. This report documents findings from the first phase of the initiative, covering the June 2006, November 2006 and March 2007 elections.

Download (Sept 2007) (PDF, 1 MB)

A number of proposals are currently being debated to reform the process of drawing state Assembly and Senate district boundaries. A new report by the Institute of Governmental Studies analyzed the possible impact of one redistricting proposal, known as nesting. The report shows that nesting, which aligns two Assembly districts within one Senate district, would simplify election administration, but it would also increase the number of cities and counties that are divided between districts and would limit the ability of the state to comply with the Voting Rights Act.

Download (August 2007) (PDF, 3 MB)

Explosive growth in the Inland Empire region of Southern California is producing a population that is more diverse ethnically, less Republican and less likely to volunteer in civic organizations, according to this report by University of California, Riverside. Based on a survey by UC Riverside political scientist Karthick Ramakrishnan, the report is part of a larger project funded by the Irvine Foundation looking at civic and political participation among residents in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Download (July 2007) (PDF, 690 KB)