Last fall, before I left The Colorado Trust, I had the opportunity to write an article for the National Civic Review that highlighted an innovative approach to grantmaking that supports advocacy. The article – available here: Field of Themes – was published in this month’s NCR journal and focuses on real-time lessons learned during last year’s planning phase of The Trust’s Health Equity Advocacy strategy, which is employing a field-building approach.
Field building is not necessarily a new concept. But its implementation through the initial stages of The Trust’s effort has blended some of the best thinking for supporting advocacy efforts in more efficient, effective, and inclusive ways.
There are also baseball movie references in the article, if you’re into that sort of thing.
In addition to the Field of Themes article, you can also learn more about the concept, practice, and evaluation of field-building at the below resources:
Advocacy and Public Policy Grantmaking: Matching Process to Purpose, The Colorado Trust
By Tanya Beer, Pilar Stella Ingargiola, and Meghan Flynn Beer
Assessing and Evaluating Change in Advocacy Fields, Center on Evaluation Innovation
By Jewlya Lynn, Spark Policy Institute