The Foundation relies heavily on its Evaluation Advisory Committee for advice about building an evidence base, recommendations and referrals.
Formed in 2001, this panel of nationally respected independent experts convenes semi-annually to review the evidence and evaluations of candidates for investment as well as of grantees, and to advise the Foundation how best to assess its own performance.
Its activities include:
- Reviewing and advancing grantees’ research and evaluation work;
- Reviewing and advancing research on organizations in which the Foundation is considering investing;
- Reviewing research and evaluation work conducted or commissioned by the Foundation;
- Apprising the Foundation of new research and evaluation work concerning youth development;
- Providing strategic advice to EMCF grantees by participating on their evaluation committees, contributing to workshops, or consulting directly; and
- Providing strategic advice to EMCF about the Foundation’s self-evaluation.
The EMCF Evaluation Advisory Committee currently consists of:
- Robert Granger (chair), Retired president, W.T. Grant Foundation
- Jennifer Brooks, Senior Program Officer, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Mark E. Courtney, Professor, School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago
- Reagan Daly, Research Director, Institute for State and Local Governance, City University of New York
- Fred Doolittle, Vice President, MDRC
- Tiffany Gueye, former Chief Executive Officer, BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life)
- Lynn A. Karoly, Senior Economist, the RAND Corporation
- Kristin Moore, Senior Scholar and past president, Child Trends
- Elizabeth Reisner, Founder, Policy Studies Associates
- Timothy Ross, Managing Partner, Action Research
- Jason Snipes, Director of Alliance Research, WestEd