Courtney Tolmie

Resource

• Setting new standards for better MEL: Lessons for grantees & funders

  This brief shares insights from the efforts of The Economic Justice Program (EJP) of the Open Society Foundations' Strategy & Impact Unit to develop a focused, principles‑driven approach to monitoring and evaluation.

• Grantee MEL capacity assessment

  This resource, part of the MEL Toolkit for Grantmakers and Grantees, provides a simple discussion/interview guide to assess grantee capacity across several components of MEL.

• Theory of change example for grant portfolios

  This resource is a theory of change example that was developed for an anti-corruption portfolio (2016–21); it includes standard theory-of-change components, such as outcomes and activities, as well as elements more specific to OSF’s longer-

• A guide to developing, refining, and using milestones

  This guide provides a set of recommended steps for defining, refining, and integrating milestones while developing a theory of change.

• The Economic Justice Program’s monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning sub-strategy 2021–24

  This sub-strategy from the Economic Justice Program explicitly outlines the purpose of MEL within the program, along with specific goals and guiding principles.

• Close-out note for the Enhancing Impact for Economic Justice portfolio

  This resource is a portfolio close-out note that was originally developed for colleagues internally at OSF: It provides an overview of the portfolio (its aims, structure, and scope) along with reflections on key achievements and lessons lea

• Developing a data collection platform: Vendor evaluation form

  This resource is the form used by Open Society Foundations’ Economic Justice Program team to evaluate potential vendors to design and implement a new data platform for MEL.

• Introduction to MEL for program staff

  This tool is a presentation that the Open Society Foundations’ Economic Justice Program MEL team delivered to program colleagues to get them more familiar with MEL and suggest practical steps for considering it in their work.

• Indicator framework for OSF’s Economic Justice Program

  This resource is the framework that the MEL team in the Open Society Foundations’ Economic Justice Program developed to compile, categorize, and make sense of a range of different indicators across the program’s grant-making portfolio.

• Terms of reference for evaluators and steering committees

  This resource is a compilation of three separate terms of references to support different components of evaluations of Open Society Foundations’ Economic Justice Program.

• Template for developing a portfolio learning strategy

  This resource is the template that the Economic Justice Program MEL team developed for the portfolio learning agendas of EJP's inaugural strategy.

• Learning Exchange Fund overview and application form

  The MEL team in the Open Society Foundations’ Economic Justice Program created a special fund to support structured learning and collaboration between its existing grantees.

• Grantee reporting menu

  This resource outlines the menu of reporting options developed as an approach to reporting that was more flexible and clearer for grantees and provided more insights to program officers.

• MEL jamboree facilitator agendas

  These agendas, for grantee “MEL jamborees”, provide a detailed view of not only how an actionable learning event for MEL could be structured but also offer an insight into the interests, challenges, and opportunities facing grantees when it