Groundswell Fund

Groundswell Fund

Groundswell Fund supports a stronger, more effective U.S. movement for reproductive justice (RJ) by mobilizing new funding and capacity-building resources for grassroots organizing and policy change efforts led by women of color, low-income women, and transgender people. Our work to evaluate the impact that Groundswell’s RJ grantees are having on policy, base building, public opinion, and the framing of reproductive health and rights in the U.S. provides information and understanding that help Groundswell and its grantees build the effectiveness and sustainability of the RJ movement.

Korwin Consulting has worked with Groundswell Fund since 2008, evaluating its support for RJ through the Catalyst Fund and, later, other funding initiatives. We have used a combination of interviews, surveys, focus groups, evaluation coaching, and training and have participated in convenings with national and local philanthropic partners and women of color-led RJ organizations hosted by Groundswell. In 2014, we worked with Groundswell staff, grantees, and other stakeholders to design a new online evaluation survey for RJ grantees that would best capture data and stories related to power-building, accomplishments, challenges, and lessons learned.

We have also partnered with Groundswell Fund to evaluate Groundswell’s Integrated Voter Engagement (IVE) program, which provides technical support to RJ organizations using an innovative approach that blends community organizing and voter engagement in a sustained way to boost the scale and power of grassroots organizations to win systems change. Currently, Korwin Consulting is collaborating with staff on developing evaluation tools and processes that will minimize grantees’ reporting burden for Groundswell Fund’s Liberation Fund, which supports organizations led by prominent women of color and transgender people of color engaging in effective grassroots organizing across social justice sectors.

New Conservatory Theatre

The New Conservatory Theatre’s YouthAware Educational Theatre program was designed to increase young people’s sensitivity and tolerance toward those who may be different from them—addressing issues of homophobia, self-esteem, discrimination, peer pressure, youth violence, and identity. Through post-performance surveys, performance observation, post-performance correspondence, and summary performance attendance data, this evaluation focused on the immediate impact that the performance had on its young viewers. The central questions revolved around how audience members interpret the play’s messages. Do they relate to any of the characters in the play? Have they experienced or observed similar situations as those depicted in the play? And finally, has seeing this play in any way influenced their tolerance levels toward LGBTQ community members?

Horizons Foundation

The Horizons Foundation serves the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community by making grants, strengthening LGBT organizations and leadership, and increasing philanthropic giving. In Korwin Consulting’s evaluation of Horizons’ Strategic Partnership Program, we explored the impact of this capacity-building program on participating executive directors and proposed changes to Horizons in program design and implementation to deepen their future capacity-building impact.

Funders for LGBTQ Issues

Funders for LGBTQ Issues’ mission is to increase the philanthropic community’s knowledge and understanding of critical funding needs in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities, as well as to educate lesbian and gay organizations on how to access philanthropic resources. As a staff member of BTW informing change, Lisa Korwin co-facilitated a planning process with members of this philanthropic affinity group, generating key information about the needs of its membership and developing individual profiles for each community foundation to use in its future fund and organizational development efforts.

Ally Action

Ally Action engaged Korwin Consulting in evaluating its RESPECT and PRYDE programs to learn whether and how they are strengthening the capacity of schools to reduce the behavioral risks that threaten the health and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth. Results of this two-year study show that more than 600 teachers and staff are taking the knowledge gained in RESPECT training workshops and applying it in their schools through advocacy, anti-gay harassment intervention, and education of students.  Equally impressive, the more than 2,000 young people participating in PRYDE classroom-based sensitivity trainings indicate a greater willingness to support LGBTQ youth and, in some cases, change their own harassing behavior toward these youth, as a result of the training.

Contra Costa Safe Schools Coalition

The Contra Costa County Safe Schools Coalition (CCSSC) was committed to increasing safety and support in local school communities for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth and families. The Coalition, which included public agencies as well as non-profit organizations, developed and delivered an integrated package of peer- and adult-led educational workshops for school communities, mobilized youth activists and peer health educators, and provided LGBTQ-friendly counseling and support groups. Findings from Korwin Consulting’s four-year evaluation show that the Coalition was contributing to safer school environments for LGBTQ and gender non-conforming youth and was increasing LGBTQ and other young people’s understanding of key physical and mental health issues. The evaluation also showed that Coalition members were helping to ensure comprehensive, LGBTQ-inclusive policy development and implementation in local school districts.