Echoing Green Fellowship Program Evaluation

Since its inception in 1987, Echoing Green has provided first-stage funding and support to nearly 400 visionary nonprofit leaders with bold ideas for social change. With this support, Echoing Green Fellows have created innovative organizations in urban and rural communities, on five continents, in 30 countries and throughout the United States. As part of Echoing Green’s efforts to address external funding changes and internal program needs, the Capstone team implemented a study to evaluate the Echoing Green Fellowship program and develop a long-term evaluation strategy for Echoing Green. The Capstone team developed three key indicators—leadership capacity, organizational capacity, and idea diffusion—for use in both the short- and long-term to evaluate the Fellowship program. The team conducted a quasi-experimental evaluation to measure the short-term impact of the program on Fellows and Fellows’ organizations. This evaluation became the core component of an evaluation system and an associated set of long-term recommendations for building Echoing Green’s capacity to evaluate its work.

This Capstone was made possible with the support from an anonymous donor through FJC: A Donor-Advised Fund.