Our Knowledge, Resources & Publications

We are always learning through our work, and we seek to accelerate change more broadly by sharing our frameworks, approaches, and lessons learned.

Feature BRIEF

When the Best Offense is a Good Defense


2019

We talked to advocates and funders to better understand how they think about advocacy on the defense. We wanted to understand whether it was a distinct category of work and the degree to which there were useful frameworks and tools for evaluating it.

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Frameworks
2025

In continuing our work to support Public Welfare Foundation’s exploration of criminal justice transformation advocacy coalitions, ORS Impact has conducted this literature scan to provide more context and targeted information about the conditions that enable coalition success. Through this process, we have identified 10 conditions that contribute to coalition success: shared vision and goals, coalition culture, resource availability, staff roles and leadership, governance structures, strategy and theory of change, diversity of membership, collaboration and partnership, community engagement, and power sharing.

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Frameworks
2025

To help Public Welfare Foundation explore advocacy coalitions that transform criminal justice, ORS Impact has conducted this literature scan to better understand what factors play into coalition formation and how they might be leveraged in pursuit of stronger, effective coalitions. We have identified six variables that contribute to the formation of coalitions: external shocks and catalysts, resource availability, existing networks and social ties, key actors, ideological alignment and belief systems, and political will and systems.

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Briefs / Reports
2024

In 2023, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation worked with ORS Impact to conduct an evaluation to understand progress during the 117th Congress on three federal policies: the Advance Premium Tax Credit (APTC), the Child Tax Credit (CTC), and closing the Medicaid coverage gap. This brief summarizes what we did and what we learned about: (1) collecting and analyzing data, (2) developing and testing hypotheses, and (3) reporting to conduct process tracing on the three policies. The primary audience for this brief is the evaluation field, particularly evaluators considering applying process tracing to a policy advocacy evaluation. Our hope is that sharing our approach and lessons learned can make it easier for others to implement this method with high quality for other advocacy and policy change evaluations.

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Working Papers
2024

While the strategic use of narrative change has become increasingly widespread, the underlying mechanisms by which narrative change is important for social change remain unclear. Why narrative change, and for what ultimate purpose? How does narrative change relate to systems change? This working paper delves into the building blocks or components of narrative change, including stories, narratives, mindsets, paradigms, and culture, and examines their interrelationship as part of cultural and systems change.

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