| Session Title: Program Theory and Theory Driven Evaluation TIG Business Meeting and Presentation: How Foundations Use Program Theory to Improve Policy |
| Business Meeting Session 311 to be held in Centennial Section H on Thursday, Nov 6, 1:40 PM to 3:10 PM |
| Sponsored by the Program Theory and Theory-driven Evaluation TIG |
| TIG Leader(s): |
| John Gargani, Gargani and Company Inc, john@gcoinc.com |
| Katrina Bledsoe, Walter R McDonald and Associates Inc, kbledsoe@wrma.com |
| Chair(s): |
| Katrina Bledsoe, Walter R McDonald and Associates Inc, kbledsoe@wrma.com |
| Presenter(s): |
| Charles Gasper, Missouri Foundation for Health, cgasper@mffh.org |
| Huilan Yang, W K Kellogg Foundation, hy1@wkkf.org |
| Discussant(s): |
| Stewart I Donaldson, Claremont Graduate University, stewart.donaldson@cgu.edu |
| John Gargani, Gargani and Company Inc, john@gcoinc.com |
| Abstract: Foundations must evaluate the credibility of new policy initiatives in the absence of data, as well as monitor, modify, and evaluate the initiatives they undertake. Increasingly over the past decade, theory-based techniques, ranging from logic models to systems thinking, have been used to promote these disparate activities. This session will examine how the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and the Missouri Foundation for Health use program theory and other theory-based concepts to promote policymaking. The session will be framed by a presentation describing the ways in which theory-based approaches might be used as policy tools and the benefits they can produce. Representatives from the foundations will provide real-world perspectives on the use of theory-based approaches and their promised benefits. And discussants will provide insights on the proposed and actual uses of theory-based approaches in philanthropy. |