DIG DEEPER
We identify and build tools to help our ecosystem more effectively harness story to advance social change. Use the tools on this page to dig deeper into the world of story-fueled impact. You’ll find resources developed by Active Voice Lab, such as The Prenups and our Ask the Evaluators! series, as well as a hand-picked selection of tools and research to help you make sense of media impact assessment.
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A Report From the Documentary Sustainability Summit
2017 Doc Summit Report
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Media Impact Project
A 2-in-1 Guide: Impact Assessment & Metrics
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Media Impact Project
Offline Impact Indicators for Documentary Film
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AndACTION
Pop Culture Works for Social Change
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Culture and Engagement Lab
Harnessing Documentaries for Social Change
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AV Lab's communications framework can help you articulate how story will advance your objectives
Horticulture
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Ford Foundation
The View From the Top: POV Leaders on the Struggle to Create Truly Public Media
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Documentary Filmmakers and Social Change: a Survey of True/False 2014 Filmmakers
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Doing the wrong thing better: your numbers will not save you
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by Elmo C. Wilson
The Effectiveness of Documentary Broadcasts
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Exploring social change documentary film outreach, engagement and impact campaigns
Winston Churchill Memorial Trust 2012 Fellowship Report
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Spitfire Strategies
AndACTION
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HDWK/Learn Organization
TCC Group
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Working Films
Impact & Assessing Impact Videos
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Conducts rigorous, mixed method evaluation to advance community and systems change
Community Science
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Norman Lear Center
Advancing the Story: The Next Chapter in Media Impact
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Center for Evaluation Innovation
Five Ways Foundations Can Better Support Policy Campaigns and Build Lasting Advocacy Capacity
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Center for Evaluation Innovation
How Do You Measure Up? Finding Fit Between Foundations and Their Evaluation Functions
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Media Impact Project
How the Media Engagement Strategy Deck Helps You Play Your Way to Impact
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Norman Lear Center
What’s New Media Good For Anyway?
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Liz Manne Strategy
#PopJustice: Social Justice and the Promise of Pop Culture Strategies
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Center for Evaluation Innovation
Strategy Design Amid Complexity: Tools for Designing and Implementing Adaptive Funding Strategies
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iDocs
Impact & Engagement Resources
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Ochre.is
Measuring Impact: Just How Does Film Drive Change?
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Center for Evaluation Innovation
The Advocacy Strategy Framework: A tool for articulating an advocacy theory of change
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Center for Evaluation Innovation
Four Tools for Assessing Grantee Contribution to Advocacy Efforts
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Tribeca Film Institute
TFI Sandbox Impact
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Download discussion materials, event planning guides, and other campaign materials from AV Lab’s predecessor, Active Voice.
Active Voice Library
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Key findings from AV Lab's 2009 research on connecting with new audiences “beyond the choir”
Beyond the Choir
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Download a free template of the Megaphone, Active Voice Lab’s framework for linking engagement strategy with distribution milestones.
Megaphone
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Showcases and analyzes media for public knowledge and action
Center for Media and Social Impact
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Specializes in the evaluation of hard-to-assess areas advocacy and systems change
Center for Evaluation Innovation
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Collaborates with journalists, producers and funders to research and develop social impact media projects
Dot Connector Studio
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Works with media makers and funders on media assessment and more
Media Impact Project
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The Chronicle of Philanthropy
How Do You Know Your Stories Are Making a Difference?
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Media Impact Funders
Assessing Impact of Media
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Media Impact Funders
Building the Case for Interactive Impact
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Media Impact Funders
Media Impact Focus: Assessing the Impact of Media
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Media Impact Funders
Funders Perspectives: Assessing Media Investments
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Media Impact Funders
State of the Impact Debate: Storming, Norming, Sometimes Performing
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The Fledgling Fund
Assessing Creative Media’s Social Impact
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The Fledgling Fund
Impact Workbook
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Social sector evaluator with expertise in practicing evaluation in vulnerable communities and communities of color
jdcPartnerships
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The Fledgling Fund
Fledgling Fund Impact Resources
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The Fledgling Fund
The Fledgling Fund Provider Directory
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Ford Foundation
Cara Mertes, Head of Ford Foundation’s JustFilms, Explains Why Thinking about Impact Will Make Your Doc Better. Yes, Really!
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ITVS
Building Social Change Campaigns with Documentary Films: The Case of “Women and Girls Lead Global”
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PBS
Engagement Strategists for Impact
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The Center for Media Justice
Measuring Impact: An Organizer’s Toolkit to Evaluate Communications Effectiveness
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Center for Investigative Reporting
Impact: From gold standard to convertibility
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Center for Investigative Reporting
Creating an impact community
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MediaShift
Measuring Non-Profit Newsroom Impact Easier Said Than Done
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MediaShift
MetricShift
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Solutions Journalism Network
Why We Need Solutions Journalism
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American University
Measuring Impact: The Importance of Evaluation for Documentary Film Campaigns
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American University
The Art, Science, and Mystery of Nonprofit News Assessment
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Aspen Institute – Aspen Planning & Evaluation Program
Aspen Planning and Evaluation Program
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Aspen Institute – Aspen Planning & Evaluation Program
What’s the Value of a Facebook “Like”?
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ConText
Computational Assessment of the Impact of Social Justice Documentaries
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ConText
Using Socio-Semantic Network Analysis for Assessing the Impact of Documentaries
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ERIN Research Inc.
Breaking New Ground: A framework for measuring the social impact of Canadian documentaries
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FSG-Social Impact Consultants
Measuring the Online Impact of Your Information Project
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Learning For Action (LFA)
Measuring Public Media’s Impact: Challenges and Opportunities
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Learning For Action (LFA)
Deepening Engagement for Lasting Impact: A Framework for Measuring Media Performance & Results
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Perception Institute
Telling Our Own Story: The Role of Narrative in Racial Healing
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Social Impact
The Behavior Measurement Tool
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Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR)
Can We Measure Media Impact? Surveying the Field
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Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR)
Measuring Impact Isn’t for Everyone
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Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR)
Collective Impact
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The Harmony Institute
StoryPilot
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Picture Motion
Measurement
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Working Narratives
Storytelling and Social Change Guide
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Norman Lear Center
How Impact Metrics can Help Documentary Filmmakers Attract More Funding
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Norman Lear Center
Media Impact Project Resources
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Norman Lear Center
Media Impact Project – The Fray
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Norman Lear Center
Norman Lear Center Research & Evaluations for Hollywood Health & Society
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Norman Lear Center
Research Study Finds That a Film Can Have a Measurable Impact on Audience Behavior
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Norman Lear Center
Johanna Blakley and Sheena Nahm – The Primetime War on Drugs and Terror
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Participant Media
The Participant Index Inaugural Report: Key Findings
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Animating Democracy
Arts and Civic Engagement Impact Initiative
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Animating Democracy
Evaluation in Action
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BRITDOC
BRITDOC Impact Distribution Lab Resources
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BRITDOC
Impact Field Guide & Toolkit
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Culture Group
Reports: Culture Matters
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Culture Group
Making Waves: A Guide to Cultural Strategy
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Harmony Institute
The Metrics of Maximum Impact
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Harmony Institute and BAVC
Impact Playbook
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Harmony Institute & BAVC
A Reaction to the Impact Playbook
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How Do We Know/Learn Organizations
Social Science Research Institute at Duke
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HotDocs
Documentary Impact: Social Change Through Storytelling
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AV Lab’s online campaign planning tool to help mediamakers, funders, and community leaders design more effective campaigns
ACTivate
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Survey of methods for researching the effects of media.
Assessing the Social Impact of Issues-Focused Documentaries
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Evaluation of AV's TAKE YOUR PLACE campaign targeting the U.S. hunger and obesity epidemic.
AV “Take Your Place” Community Study
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Case studies of real-world assessment of recent media projects from AV Lab's advisory group HDWK/Learn
Ask the Evaluators!
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What filmmakers and funders should talk about before tying the knot.
The Prenups
