Public Agency

2002, 127 pages. The Center for an Urban Future, New York, NY, 212-479-3344, www.nycfuture.org.

What can evaluation accomplish for grantmakers and grantees? What roles should each play in the design and execution of the evaluation process? Recent briefings from The Conservation Company and the Neighborhood Funders Group examine these questions from different vantage points.

Evaluation: The Good News for Funders
Andrew Mott

2002, 19 pages. City Limits Community Information Service, Inc., Center for an Urban Future 120 Wall Street, 20th floor, New York, NY 10005 (212) 479-3344, www.nycfuture.org

Speak Up is a simple, clear booklet that outlines the basics of advocacy techniques used by nonprofit organizations. Only nineteen pages, it assures readers of the positive consequences of advocacy, provides supportive commentary, and offers tips and suggestions on how to approach the advocacy process.

2003, 2 pages. Alliance for Justice, 11 Dupont Circle, NW, second floor, Washington, DC 20036, (886) 675-6229 or (202) 822-6070, fax: (202) 822-6068, advocacy@afj.org, www.allianceforjustice.org

A handy supplement to Speak Up is a pamphlet produced by the Alliance for Justice. The cover poses the question: Lobby government officials, advocate for legislation, and you know what will happen? The answer is eye-catching: better public policy.

Each of the following Web sites is located somewhere on a continuum between the state of the union and the state of the arts.

The Web is a particularly effective medium for creating visual diagrams of events and practices from daily life. According to Paul Miller, one site's creator, we live in a "world of uncertainty." Each of the following sites, in its own way, diagrams an aspect of our uncertain world.

The first site delineates the historical context for current Web projects.

Cultural Diplomacy Initiative

A labor of love for individuals committed to the significance and potential of media, Why FUND Media is a timely and worthy follow-up to a 1984 publication by the Council on Foundations titled How to Fund Media. Editor Karen Hirsch seamlessly brings together a series of separate chapters written by media arts experts who've based their chapter essays on extensive consultations with field representatives and grantmakers, and on historical research.

Targeted marketing is extremely effective. It uses psychological and purchasing-pattern analysis to divide the population into groups likely to make certain decisions. It then targets those groups with messages that reinforce previous beliefs and, if possible, creates barriers through psychological pressure to stay within certain social, style, and consumption boundaries. The result is a society of many lifestyles, each with boundaries carefully drawn and reinforced.

I. Me, You, and Us: The Rise of Something New