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CATALYZE INNOVATION

Designing & Implementing a MEL Framework for a Donor Collaborative

Location: 

National (U.S.)

Duration: 

2024 – Present

The Challenge

With $110 million from 40 funders, the Families & Workers Fund (FWF) is one of the largest and most diverse funder collaboratives focused on economic equity and workforce transformation. However, measuring impact at both the fund-wide and programmatic levels—while balancing the needs of multiple donors—required a sophisticated and adaptive MEL approach that could capture systems change over time.

OUR APPROACH

I2I partnered with FWF to design and implement a comprehensive Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) framework that:

  • Develops an overarching Theory of Change (ToC) for the fund and its core programmatic initiatives
  • Redesigns grantee reporting systems to capture meaningful progress without overburdening partners
  • Collects and analyzes mixed-methods data (qualitative + quantitative) to track long-term impact
  • Facilitates learning among philanthropic partners, ensuring insights inform strategy and future investments

The IMPACT

  • Established a unified impact measurement approach, aligning diverse funders and grantees
  • Strengthened grantee reporting, making it more useful for learning while reducing administrative burden
  • Enhanced funder collaboration, creating shared learning opportunities across the $110M portfolio
  • Built an adaptive framework, ensuring MEL evolves alongside the Fund’s strategic priorities

What Makes This Different?

I2I’s systems-change lens ensures that FWF’s MEL framework not only tracks outcomes but also captures how investments shift power, policies, and economic systems over time.