Reception | The Gallery | Views + Newsstand | The Collection | Reflection Room | Creation Café | Library + Chat Corner
Reflecting. Learning. Sharing.
Welcome to CommonGrounds
Swing open the door and come on in!
Ahh… yes, you can smell freshly brewed coffee and steeped tea gently wafting in the air as you enter CommonGrounds. But there is something else. Something different.
A SPECIAL KIND OF ENERGY.
CommonGrounds is vibrant and lively, yet also quiet and reflective. You will find familiar faces and voices, and others less so, all of whom are exploring the space and its nooks along with you… With some folks engaging in robust conversation and sharing, while others are huddled quietly reading and pondering over warm cups of brew. Check out the menu below...
Listen to a welcome message from Marcia Coné, Director of Practice Engagement and Evolution
Welcome to CommonGrounds - a place to reflect, learn, and share. Practicing the use of the Equitable Evaluation Framework™ takes intention, attention and community. Community is what gathers us together, provides space to try new things, receive support - offer pathways for communication, trust, and risk-taking. As with all communities, it takes active engagement and participation to reap the benefits. We hope you'll come back again and again to CommonGrounds. We'll be here with cup in hand and hearts and minds open. We’re glad you stopped by.
LET’S GET GROUNDED
CommonGrounds is a password-protected site for Practice Partners only.
A place grounded in the spirit of supporting one another to play and practice together - comfortably, candidly, and creatively. Each partner is in a formal relationship with EEI and committed to being of service to the field with the shared goal of advancing not only equity but expanding our definitions of validity and embracing complexity. (see list of “Regulars” below)
What’s on the CommonGrounds Menu?
CommonGrounds offers special areas - nooks - that are distinct yet all grounded in the EE Framework. Each nook features some ideas, approaches, and materials - including ah-ha’s and oh-no’s - offered by practice partners on ways they are (and are not) thinking, talking, and testing about the EE Framework principles. So cross the threshold.
Grab your cup. Settle in. And let’s explore, together.
Explore the Gallery along the entry wall… we invite you to stroll along and linger. From how we got here and why this moment matters, to the call for a paradigm shift and what this shared vision requires of us all, the Gallery invites you to explore how to advance EE Framework in your work or sphere of influence – and offers different entry points to the conversation.
Come on over! While waiting for your brew to steep, slide over and check out the Views and Newsstand. There are brief reads and perspectives, including some partner blogs and learnings, to inspire and engage while you mingle. Share yours.
Peruse this cozy nook with its shelves and streams of sunlight. You’ll find guidebooks, reports, booklets and more from partners, and get a sense of what others are sharing. See what grabs your interest, pull up a chair and check it out.
Set aside some time and settle into this quiet space to read and ponder. Here you’ll take a deeper dive on underpinnings of the EE Framework through readings and jot down your thoughts using Reflection Guides. Then, schedule a virtual (or in real life!) coffee/walking date with colleagues to share your “ah-ha’s.”
Roll up your sleeves and get ready to do this. This workshop space is where partners are playing with, testing out, and sharing with one another different things they are saying, doing and trying. In the Café’s two niches - The Language Lab and Sampling Studio – you will find ideas and approaches on RFPs/RPQs, inventories, Equity Learning Club, retreat agendas, and more. As your efforts expand, so will what is available.
Looking for past issues of our Percolator? Click here.
Want to see all resources in one place or chat about what you’ve read?
Here you will find all of the nook offerings available and accessible in one place. You can also click on any that capture your interest to chat with others, including sharing questions or comments, to help spark thinking and ideas on how you might be able to adapt and use.
Head to our Library + Chat Corner →
CommonGrounds Regulars
Meet your fellow Philanthropic Practice Partners
On the CommonGrounds Bulletin Board:
EE FRAMEWORK: Principles + Orthodoxies
“Beautiful things happen when we are in community and allow ourselves to be vulnerable... The Equitable Evaluation Framework™ has created a critical space for reflective practice.
Making visible evaluation orthodoxies, whether we embrace or quarrel with them, invites us to engage with the paradigms that tend to govern our efforts...
My hope is that peers working in foundations that have a social change mission, bring an equity lens to their work, and/or who see themselves as important actors in community change will join in the conversation about what it will take to align foundation mission with evaluation practice. I look forward to learning alongside you.”
— Dr. Chera Reid (formerly with Kresge), Center for Evaluation Innovation
Be sure to come again! And check out new “menu items” and offerings to come…