SPUR INNOVATION
Measuring Audacious Systems Change for the Audacious Project
Location: Global
Duration: Fall 2023-Present
THE CHALLENGE
The Audacious Project—a collaborative funding initiative housed at TED—is reshaping philanthropy by shifting power and resources to proximate changemakers advancing bold, community-led solutions. To fully capture its multi-layered impact, Audacious needed a Measurement, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) framework that could assess its influence as an intervention, a donor community, and a funding portfolio—while staying true to its disruptive, values-driven approach to philanthropy.
THE IMPACT
🚀 Developed the first-ever MEL framework tailored to Audacious’s unique structure and mission
📊 Enabled funders to see their collective impact, fostering a more engaged and informed donor community
💡 Strengthened grantee capacity, helping changemakers communicate their impact to funders
🔄 Positioned Audacious as a thought leader in impact measurement, leading to a presentation at the American Evaluation Association Conference
🎯 What Makes This Different?
I2I’s approach captures systems-level transformation, ensuring the Audacious Project’s MEL framework is not just about measuring grantee outcomes—but impact of the portfolio as a whole and reimagining the role of philanthropy itself.
🔗 Read Lessons Learned over the past five years, informed by the MEL framework.
OUR APPROACH
I2I partnered with Audacious and key donors to co-create and implement a MEL framework that measures impact at three levels:
✔ Audacious as an intervention: Tracking how the program equips grantees to secure long-term funding, deliver high-impact TED Talks, and scale their ideas
✔ Audacious as a donor community: Evaluating influence on peer funders and its role in shifting philanthropic practices
✔ Audacious as a portfolio: Assessing systemic impact across grantees, measuring how investments drive long-term change for individuals, communities, and systems
The evaluation integrates systems change rubrics to track transformation over time, using qualitative and quantitative data to articulate the portfolio’s on-the-ground impact on people and communities.
See what Audacious Project’s Director of Learning & Evaluation has to say about working with I2I:
“I really appreciate Intention 2 Impact’s approach: instead of trying to sell their clients an off the shelf product, they take the time to listen to their needs, and to co-create and implement solutions that are useful and work for them. That approach has allowed us to push the boundaries of what both us and them thought possible on a few occasions and I’m already looking forward to seeing what might come up in future opportunities.”
— João Martinho, Director of Learning & Evaluation, The Audacious Project at TED