A lot more to be done

There are some basic questions for any serious discussion of social impact evaluation, especially in the field of social change philanthropy, and it is to the credit of the contributors to this issue of Alliance that these questions are extensively covered. In general, the key questions are: why is impact evaluation important? What are the desirable principles, values and approaches that must guide social impact evaluation? And, what are the gaps in knowledge and methodology that require continued attention?

Around these questions, the contributors articulate some refreshing ideas that bear highlighting. The first is the idea that social impact evaluation must be methodologically circumscribed by text, context and texture.