Since the first convening, the Funder & Evaluator Affinity Network grew to more than 400 members. Along the way, FEAN had many accomplishments:
Raised awareness of this effort and the issues it seeks to address through blogs hosted by the Foundation Review, the Center for Effective Philanthropy, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, Glasspockets by Candid, the American Evaluation Association, and more.
Hosted discussions at the annual American Evaluation Association (AEA) conferences and at the conference of the Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) attended by 80 to 100 people each, including both new and returning participants.
Conducted a survey of network members in which more than 40 individuals responded and shared actions and solutions to support the FEAN agenda.
Established a partnership with the Luminare Group to analyze of practices and investments related to enhancing the nature of and access to evaluators in philanthropy and develop recommendations for improving the field.
Established a partnership with the Center for Evaluation Innovation to test an expansion of the Evaluation Roundtable model to help senior and emerging evaluators better understand and navigate foundations; increase the diversity of skilled and effective evaluators working in philanthropy; and build a collaborative network of evaluators working in philanthropy.
Created a mechanism to support coordination across the Center for Evaluation Innovation, Luminare Group, and the Equitable Evaluation Initiative to ensure our process is attentive to diversity, equity, and inclusion principles rather than reinforcing existing structural inequities.
Hosted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the racial justice movement of 2020, virtual coffee chats for the field in May and June of 2020
Launched the Call to Action series of five briefs and hosted a series of webinars with Grantmakers for Effective Organizations in 2020 and 2021.
Conducted a final survey of the FEAN membership for feedback on how FEAN has impacted the field.
