--- title: The Latest | Evaluating Community Impact (3) description: Evaluating Community Impact | (3) --- [![20yrLogo-2_WhiteOrange](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/hs-fs/hubfs/Administration/Tamarack%20Logos/20yrLogo-2_WhiteOrange.png?width=200&height=47&name=20yrLogo-2_WhiteOrange.png "20yrLogo-2_WhiteOrange")](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/?hsLang=en-us) # The Latest Contribute. We love to hear your thoughts, your musings and your latest work. Please share with us! [![Write a post](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/316071/33819a55-1164-4664-8ab0-c9fe2f42d6f1.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/316071/33819a55-1164-4664-8ab0-c9fe2f42d6f1) #### Subscribe. Be in the know. Get the latest updates about community change and building vibrant communities. [Learn More](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/subscribe?hsLang=en-us) × - [Climate Change & SDGs](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/topic/climate-transitions) - [Collective Impact](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/topic/collective-impact) - [Community Engagement](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/topic/community-engagement) - [Community Development](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/topic/cities-deepening-community) - [Evaluation](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/topic/evaluation) - [Innovation](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/topic/community-innovation) - [Leadership](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/topic/collaborative-leadership) - [Poverty](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/topic/cities-reducing-poverty) - [Youth](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/topic/communities-building-youth-futures) [![](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/hubfs/What%20do%20you%20mean%20on%20cement.jpg) ](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/evaluating-systems-change-results-inquiry-framework?hsLang=en-us) ### [Evaluating Systems Change Results: An Inquiry Framework](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/evaluating-systems-change-results-inquiry-framework?hsLang=en-us) Posted by [Mark Cabaj](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/author/mark-cabaj) on December 18, 2018 At Tamarack’s Community Change Institute in Vancouver in 2015, Karen Pittman, CEO of the Forum on Youth Investment, shared a noble prize worthy piece of poetry:  Programmatic interventions help people beat the odds. Systemic interventions can help change their odds. [Read More](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/evaluating-systems-change-results-inquiry-framework?hsLang=en-us) [![](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/hubfs/Photos/Image%20Library/systems%20code-088846-edited.jpg) ](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/scaling-for-systems-change-rethinking-planning-and-evaluation?hsLang=en-us) ### [Scaling for Systems Change: Rethinking Planning and Evaluation](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/scaling-for-systems-change-rethinking-planning-and-evaluation?hsLang=en-us) Posted by [Mark Cabaj](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/author/mark-cabaj) on November 13, 2018 One of the most common pathways to systems change is to ‘scale’ a successful small-scale innovation. The theory is simple. Social innovators develop and test a new model or practice that they think can make a positive difference (e.g., improve grade 3 reading rates, protect wetlands, reduce the racism some people encounter when trying to secure good housing). This is usually (but not always) organized as a pilot project. If the experiment is successful, they then work with funders and early adopters to expand the practice broadly enough that it can ‘change’ a system and generate widespread impact. [Read More](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/scaling-for-systems-change-rethinking-planning-and-evaluation?hsLang=en-us) [![](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/hubfs/Vivo-122288-edited.png) ](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/getting-to-impact-the-observational-way?hsLang=en-us) ### [Getting to Impact the Observational Way](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/getting-to-impact-the-observational-way?hsLang=en-us) Posted by [Heather Keam](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/author/heather-keam) on November 12, 2018 A few years ago, I read a book called "Trying Hard is Not Good Enough" by Mark Friedman. The book talks about how initiatives can be complicated and complex, and therefore this makes it hard to reduce evaluating these initiatives to a set of numbers and equations. Mark suggests that we need to talk about the story behind the data. Look at the stories, anecdotes and accomplishments that explain what the data is saying.    [Read More](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/getting-to-impact-the-observational-way?hsLang=en-us) [![](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/hubfs/Photos/Image%20Library/Blank%20sheet%20with%20writing%20utensils%20around%20it-521135-edited.jpg) ](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/planning-systems-change-evaluation?hsLang=en-us) ### [Planning Systems Change Evaluation](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/planning-systems-change-evaluation?hsLang=en-us) Posted by [Mark Cabaj](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/author/mark-cabaj) on September 21, 2018 The video System Thinking and Evaluation, by Kylie Hutchinson, Chris Lovato and Bev Parsons is an excellent introduction to evaluating systems change. It describes how an evaluation of a hypothetical initiative to improve nutrition in a community must both ‘zoom in’ to explore the programmatic effects of the effort (e.g., improved health of program participants) and ‘zoom out’ to assess influence and change on factors in the larger systems that affect their individual health (e.g., urban design which affects levels of physical activity, the quality of industrial food production, the culture of portion sizes). The video also reminds us that deep and durable progress on complex issues depends on our ability to reshape the deeper systems that contribute to those problems in the first place. [Read More](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/planning-systems-change-evaluation?hsLang=en-us) [![](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/hubfs/Photos/Image%20Library/Group%20Meeting%20Happy-826597-edited.jpg) ](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/evaluating-systems-and-social-change?hsLang=en-us) ### [Evaluating Systems and Social Change: New Developments and A Ground-breaking Program by SFU](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/evaluating-systems-and-social-change?hsLang=en-us) Posted by [Mark Cabaj](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/author/mark-cabaj) on July 31, 2018 One of my roles as ‘curator’ of the Tamarack Institute’s Evaluating Community Impact work is to track and share ideas and methodologies that community changemakers might find useful in their work.   Over the next six months, I will focus on evaluating systems change and social change. Innovators  all over the world are focused on reforming or transforming systems, whether they be related to energy, child protection, ecological education, economic, social systems, or (more likely) a mix of all them. [Read More](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/evaluating-systems-and-social-change?hsLang=en-us) [![](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/hubfs/Photos/Image%20Library/Weaving-510224-edited.jpg) ](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/weaving-together-accountability-and-learning-in-complex-situations?hsLang=en-us) ### [Weaving Together Accountability and Learning in Complex Situations](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/weaving-together-accountability-and-learning-in-complex-situations?hsLang=en-us) Posted by [Mark Cabaj](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/author/mark-cabaj) on February 14, 2018 Michael Quinn Patton, evaluation expert, has argued that even the best intentioned, well-resourced evaluation processes can become, “the enemy of social innovation” if change-makers, evaluators and funders employ a traditional – rather than developmental – approach to assessment.   [Read More](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/weaving-together-accountability-and-learning-in-complex-situations?hsLang=en-us) [Previous](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/topic/evaluating-community-impact/page/2) [Next](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/topic/evaluating-community-impact/page/4) [![20yrLogo-2_WhiteOrange](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/hs-fs/hubfs/Administration/Tamarack%20Logos/20yrLogo-2_WhiteOrange.png?width=3401&name=20yrLogo-2_WhiteOrange.png "20yrLogo-2_WhiteOrange")](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/?hsLang=en-us) ### Tamarack [Home](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/?hsLang=en-us) [Latest](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest) [Events](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/eventlisting?hsLang=en-us) [Donate](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/donate?hsLang=en-us) [About](https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/whoweare?hsLang=en-us) ### Follow Us [** ** ](https://www.facebook.com/TamarackInstitute) [** ** ](https://twitter.com/Tamarack_Inst) [** ** ](https://www.linkedin.com/company/tamarack-institute-for-community-engagement)   In the spirit of respect, reciprocity, and truth we honour and acknowledge that our work occurs across Turtle Island (North America), which has been home since time immemorial to the ancestors of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Peoples. ### Subscribe Be in the know. 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