Date: Monday, June 1, 2026
Hi, I’m Courtney Bolinson, an independent consultant and owner of Head and Heart Evaluation. I’ve been part of the Social Finance TIG (formerly Social Impact Measurement TIG) since 2017, exploring the intersection of evaluation and impact measurement and management (IMM) across different contexts as one area of my work as an evaluator.
Over the years, I’ve held onto hope that AEA could become a meaningful home for evaluators working in impact investing. But lately, I’ve been questioning that hope.
I’m more convinced than ever that impact investing represents a critical growth area for our field, especially as traditional funding streams for evaluation shrink, thousands of evaluators are out-of-work, and conference registration numbers drop. Impact investing is not just “another sector”; it’s a rapidly expanding ecosystem where decisions about evidence, impact, and value are being made every day, often without evaluators at the table. And yet, AEA has not embraced this opportunity – even in this moment of reckoning for evaluation.
Since 2016, the SF TIG has been building spaces within AEA to bridge evaluation and impact investing. Through the TIG, we’ve hosted webinars, written newsletters, created a primer, organized conference sessions and side events, and even developed Summer Institute courses. Past AEA presidents John Gargani and Veronica Olazabal helped elevate impact investing within AEA, framing it as part of the evolving landscape of evaluation as part of their conference themes.
And yet, institutional blockages prevent us from thriving. Social Finance TIG content has been deprioritized at the conference and in AEA’s professional development offerings. Efforts to contribute to broader IMM conversations—like providing feedback on emerging standards (see resources like the Global Impact Investing Network and Impact Management Project)—have faced structural and cultural barriers at AEA. It turns out that building the space is only part of the equation; sustained institutional support and cultural openness matter just as much.
In the IMM world, many practitioners come from finance, consulting, or business. Some have evaluation training, but many do not. As a result, decisions about what constitutes “good enough” evidence are often made without grounding in mixed methods, culturally responsive approaches, or rigorous evaluation design.
This isn’t a critique—it’s a reality. And it presents an opportunity.
IMM urgently needs stronger alignment with evaluation principles. There’s a real opening for evaluators to help shape practice, inform standards, and advocate for more meaningful and equitable approaches to understanding impact. If we’re not engaged, others will continue defining the field without us.
At the same time, we need to be willing to think differently about what constitutes rigor in the context of an investment versus an established intervention. We should be leading that charge, working to creatively develop new approaches to measurement that adhere to core evaluation principles while meeting investors where they are.
Impact investing is, by nature, a bridging space. It requires engaging not just evaluators, but investors, fund managers, and entrepreneurs—people who may not identify with our field or its norms.
AEA’s current structure and approach makes this kind of engagement difficult. Add to that a spectrum of reactions within the evaluation community—from curiosity to skepticism to outright resistance and fear—and it becomes even harder to build traction.
But bridging is exactly where innovation happens. If we want to influence IMM, we need to be willing to meet people where they are and expand our definition of who belongs in these conversations.
So here are the questions I’m sitting with:
If AEA isn’t able, or willing, to be a home for this work, where should that home be?
What would it take for evaluators to show up there, together?
And perhaps most importantly: What are we losing by missing the moment?
The American Evaluation Association is hosting Social Finance TIG Week with our colleagues in the Social Finance Topical Interest Group. The contributions all this week to AEA365 come from our Social Finance TIG members. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this AEA365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the AEA365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an AEA365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to AEA365@eval.org. AEA365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. The views and opinions expressed on the AEA365 blog are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the American Evaluation Association, and/or any/all contributors to this site.