Public Policy Commons^™

Tfr 17.3 Full Issue

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Collective Learning In Philanthropy: Ai, Trust, And The Future Of Grant Reporting, Rachel Kimber, Valerie Ehrlich, Blanch Vance, Abigail Osei

The Foundation Review

Grant reporting has largely devolved from a learning tool to a bureaucratic exercise that reinforces power asymmetries and burdens nonprofits. As philanthropy confronts mounting crises demanding equity and transparency, reporting must transform into a space for collective sensemaking.

This paper explores how Artificial Intelligence (AI), paired with Oral and Alternate Reporting (OAR) methods, can build equitable, human-centered reporting systems. We propose the E⁴ framework — Efficiency, Effectiveness, Expansiveness, and Equity — for intentionally leveraging AI in service of more equitable reporting practices.

Traditional reporting often sidelines the expertise of nonprofit staff and communities most affected by funded programs. Drawing …

Philanthropy As Risk Capital: Shaping Trust And Learning At The Speed Of Ai, Nina Sabarre, Clara Bennett, Laura Chavez-Varela

The Foundation Review

As artificial intelligence rapidly reshapes society, philanthropy is increasingly called to act as "risk capital" for the public good. But risk alone is not enough. Without rigorous, field-wide learning, philanthropy's bold bets may remain isolated and short-sighted, failing to catalyze the systemic change this moment demands.

This article draws on three sources of learning at Omidyar Network—an evaluation of The Tech We Want initiative, external strategy consultations with 29 stakeholders, and early learnings from a generative AI portfolio—to identify how philanthropy can uniquely "de-risk" AI innovation for collective benefit.

Through trust-based partnerships, ecosystem infrastructure support, and narrative change, these learning …

Deepening Our Understanding Of Resilience: How Evaluation Can Contribute, Michael Quinn Patton

The Foundation Review

Resilience is the capacity to experience a significant shock and adapt as needed to survive and move forward. The current age is one of constant system shocks economically, environmentally, and politically. Resilience becomes essential for navigating these and other risks.

Individuals, organizations, communities, and ecosystems manifest different degrees and types of resilience requiring appropriately matched evaluation responses. In considering new directions for philanthropic evaluation, this article offers for the first time an overarching framework of four different responses to system shocks and disruptions. This leads to four different evaluation criteria: continuity, adaptation, innovation, and capitulation.

In addition to the long-term …

When Shift Happens: Navigating Toward A Framework For Responsible Philanthropic Exits, Laila Bell, Stephanie Teleki, Jaime Vazquez

The Foundation Review

Philanthropy can be a powerful force for social change, with influence extending far beyond the funding period. When foundations decide to cease funding in a specific area, how they exit can significantly impact the field they are leaving in both the short- and long-term. A poorly executed exit risks blindsiding grant partners and communities, damaging key relationships, undermining progress, and potentially leaving the field worse off than it was found. In contrast, a responsible exit can help the work continue long after the foundation ceases its funding.

What defines a responsible exit? In this article, learning leaders at three different …

Beyond Transactions: Building Relational Partnerships Between Evaluators And Foundations, Lauren Beriont, Cassie Bruny, Madison N. Garcia, Ebonie Guyton, Chelsey Hurt, Leah Josephson, Kate Mallula, Mary Mattson, Rory Neuner, Ramona Perry, Andrea Prado Tuma, Sarah Smith, Kim Van Der Woerd, Sofia Vitalis

The Foundation Review

The co-authors have framed this article as an emergent learning journal of sorts, summarizing observations, findings, and key takeaways; walking the reader through the process, key tensions, and classic myths they identified; and highlighting principles they uncovered that underlie and lay the groundwork for imagining more equitable ways for evaluation consultants and foundations to act in relationships.

Base Building Evaluation: Three Opportunities To Improve Its Use And Relevance, Katie Fox, Margaret A. Post

The Foundation Review

The concept of base building comes from the traditions of electoral and labor organizing, where organizers focus on drawing leadership from a specific constituency or geography. Base building is foundational to organizing efforts. It involves the recruitment, training, and leadership development of people who are often most directly impacted by the issues and causes that organizing focuses on.

In recent years, base building has seen increased interest and investment from the philanthropic sector as funders recognize base building as critical to community-led change. As funders expand their investment in base building, they increasingly seek information and data about base building …

An Assessment Of The Viva Callesj September 2025 Event In San José, Richard Kos, Adam Cohen

Mineta Transportation Institute

Viva CalleSJ is an open-streets initiative where several miles of the City of San José’s streets are closed to vehicular traffic, allowing residents to walk, bike, scooter, and skate freely. This report evaluates the Viva CalleSJ event held in San José on September 7, 2025, which attracted more than 150,000 participants. Using a mixed-methods approach, this evaluation examines aspects such as attendance, activities, modal access, and economic impacts, utilizing data from participant surveys (in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese), interviews, and observational analysis. The findings indicate that the Viva CalleSJ September 2025 event was largely successful in achieving its objectives, including …

What Do Americans Think About Federal Tax Options To Support Transportation? Results From Year Sixteen Of A National Survey, Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Hilary Nixon

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report summarizes the results from the sixteenth year of a national public opinion survey asking U.S. adults questions related to their views on federal transportation taxes. A nationally representative sample of 2,539 respondents completed the online survey from February 3 to February 27, 2025. The questions test public opinions about raising the federal gas tax rate, replacing the federal gas tax with a new mileage fee, and imposing a mileage fee just on commercial travel. In addition to asking directly about support for these tax options, the survey collected data on respondents’ views on the quality of their local …

Exploring Electric Bicycle Safety Performance Data And Policy Options For California, Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Kevin Fang

Mineta Transportation Institute

This study was conducted as directed by California Senate Bill 381 (2023), which called for research to help policymakers develop effective laws and policy to support the twin goals of expanding electric bicycle use and protecting the safety of electric bicycle riders and other road users. The three major strands of findings presented in this report are (1) a review of how California and other states (and countries) regulate electric bicycle use, (2) a review of the electric bicycle safety literature, including original analysis of primary data on crashes, injuries, and deaths, and (3) strategies that the state could adopt …

Sustainability Policy Proposals For The Township Of Montclair, Nj, Fanny Lauby, Josemy Barrera Cabal, Aaron Chauhan, Chase Geer, Carlos Jimenez, Catherine Khitiri, Jonathan Lockette, Andrew Mapes, Coral Mejía, Jack Nacht, Gabriella O’Keefe, Refia Oral, Sanjeev Rao, Jacob Roby, Julnide Saint Juste, Fiona Slatina

Department of Political Science and Law Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This white paper was written as a course requirement for POLS 324 Advanced Public Policy Analysis at Montclair State University in fall 2025. In the course, students analyze public policy and examine current issues. Public policy analysis can be defined as the development and evaluation of policy solutions to public problems. The course's learning objectives include “critically evaluate the goals and assumptions of different policy proposals,” “create a policy proposal for a public problem,” and “evaluate the proposals developed by their peers.” For the fall 2025 iteration of the course, I invited two offices in the township of Montclair to …

Engineering Risk And Indigenous Resilience Toward Intelligent Decision Support For Mining In Ancestral Lands, Izech Brian O. Edwin, King Harold A. Recto

Electronics, Computer, and Communications Engineering Faculty Publications

Mining within ancestral territories reveals an ongoing conflict between technical viability and Indigenous consent. This collaborative study, conducted by an engineering scholar and a policy researcher of Indigenous heritage in Benguet among the Ibaloi and Kankanaey peoples, investigates how risk transparency and policy alignment can bridge existing divides, while formulating principles applicable to other Indigenous mining contexts. The study provides an initial evaluation of the feasibility of a proposed large-scale mining operation within a risk-informed, data-driven governance framework. Three elements of engineering risk were assessed utilizing literature-derived and proxy parameters: (1) Land degradation is indicated by a Soil Productivity Index …

Front And Back Matter

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

The Ai Contributor: A New Thought Partner In Systems Change, Jewlya Lynn, Rachel Reichenbach

The Foundation Review

Many foundations are making long-term commitments to advancing systemic change, continually adapting and refining their approaches along the way. An emerging and often underutilized tool in their systems change toolkit is generative artificial intelligence (AI).

AI is enhancing practices across philanthropy, often focused on increasing efficiencies and scaling or streamlining human tasks. What if we instead focus on what AI can do that is distinctly different from what a human can offer? In the world of systemic change, we continue to struggle with the complexity and intractability of systems and finding moments when systems can be shifted. AI can be …

Aiding And Abetting Scientific Integrity In U.S. Federal Government Agencies, Keeley Townsend

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Science can play a critical role in supporting sound public administration and policy decisions. However, the value that science provides to government decision-making is contingent on a government’s scientific integrity standards and the degree to which employees adhere to those standards when conducting, managing, using, or communicating about science. Within the U.S. federal government, scientific integrity standards have historically been defined and applied inconsistently, at times resulting in harmful government actions.

Since at least 2000, the U.S. Congress and several executive administrations have taken steps to strengthen scientific integrity in government operations. One recent step included requiring all federal government …

Identity Salience Of Organizational Culture: The Intersection Of Racial And Occupational Identities In High-Risk Professions, Sarah Espinosa

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Despite decades of effort, issues of race and color in organizations remain unresolved. Representative Bureaucracy (RB) has been a necessary but insufficient response to these challenges. While RB promotes diversity and inclusion, it struggles to address deeper issues of equity and justice, which are seen in the persistence of police brutality, even with increased representation of officers of color. This dissertation will propose a new theoretical approach to address the shortcomings of RB, a framework for the Identity Salience of Organizational Culture (ISOC). The ISOC framework seeks to build beyond RB to explain how the culture of high-risk professions with …

Understanding Executive Order 13583’S Impact To Federal Workforce Diversity & Employee Perception Of Federal Policies And Programs, Michael Robert Arenella

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Creating a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive (DE&I) workforce produces beneficial organizational outcomes, such as decreased turnover, improved creativity and innovation, and improved organizational performance (Diaz-Garcia et al., 2013; Gomez & Bernet, 2019; McLeod et al., 1996; Singh & Selvarjan, 2013). While the private sector has placed much emphasis on improving DE&I in their hiring practices, whether the federal government has achieved comparable outcomes remains unclear. Guided by the punctuated equilibrium theory (PET), this dissertation examines the impact of Executive Order 13583 on both change in workforce composition, and employee sentiment towards diversity policies and programs.

Using a multi-level, multi-method, …

The Role Women Play As Facilitators And Barriers In The Career Trajectory Of Female Leaders, Anna Marie Smith

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

As gender diversity in the American workplace increases, the complexities surrounding the challenges faced by women continue to evolve. In recent years, this shift has led to an increase in women entering the workforce in record numbers, providing them with opportunities for successful careers, particularly with respect to leadership, all while balancing work and family life. However, despite the significant gains women have made in the employment arena, they continue to lag behind their male counterparts when it comes to leadership opportunities. While research is abundant on the characteristics of female leaders, what motivates them, and how they compare to …

Taming The Wicked Problem: Transparency, Civic Apathy, And The Challenge Of Rebuilding Trust In Local Government, Austin N. Kaiser

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Since the 1960s, the United States has experienced a persistent decline in public trust in government. The Founders believed that government could only function with the consent of the governed, making this erosion of trust a significant concern for democratic legitimacy. In response, many scholars and practitioners have championed transparency as a pillar of sound governance and a potential remedy for rebuilding trust. However, the solution may not be as simple as improving openness. Public officials increasingly recognize that transparency alone may have limited or even unintended consequences, especially when public participation is low or administrative resources are strained.

This …

Policymaker Receptivity To Corporate Political Activity As Influenced By Activists, Mark E. Bateman

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation considers the role of shareholder resolutions and employee strikes as representations of activist activities targeting corporations and their influence on corporate political activity (CPA). The study builds from the McDonnell and Werner (2016) study in Administrative Science Quarterly, “Blacklisted businesses: Social activists’ challenges and the disruption of corporate political activity” that assessed the role of consumer boycotts vis-à-vis CPA. Starting with the political marketplace framework, introducing the policy relationship framework, and using signal theory, the dissertation found some support that shareholder resolutions and employee strikes related to increases in PAC refunds, that temporal issue salience to the …