Year 1 Reporting Guidelines

OVERVIEW

Please follow these guidelines to prepare the year 1 progress report for the Building Capacity for Health Advocacy grant program. The written report has 4 sections: (1) quantitative metrics as defined in your proposal, (2) qualitative reflection and storytelling from your experience, (3) a short self-assessment on advocacy capacity, and (4) finance report. Following submission of the written report, we will set up a call to discuss your year 1 experience and goals for year 2 in more detail.

The Rx Foundation goals for this first year of reports include learning what you accomplished in year 1, understanding how the unanticipated events of 2020 affected your work, setting goals for the second year of the grant program, and planning for additional support of the learning community.

GUIDELINES

  1. Executive Summary: In one paragraph, provide a top-level summary of your experience and accomplishments in the first year of the grant. We recommend coming back to write this summary after completing all of the sections below.
  2. Quantitative/Metrics: Review and report on the metrics that you defined in your proposal. Where possible, give context for the numbers. In what areas did you meet, exceed, or fall short of your goals? What metrics, if any, are less relevant now? What new metrics would you include for year 2 of your grant?
  3. Qualitative/Reflection:
    • Summarize what it was that you set out to accomplish in year 1, and describe your activities and level of success in meeting your goals. What should we know that is not captured in the metrics section?
    • We recognize that advocacy and social change happen as part of dynamic systems, and the following questions are aimed at helping us understand some of the dynamic shifts that impacted your actions and outcomes this year:
      • How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your organization, your networks, and the work you had planned to do this year? How did you respond and adapt?
      • How have the demonstrations against police brutality and amplified attention to racial justice affected your organization, your networks, and your work this year? Have you made any changes in operations, partnerships, or agenda that reflect these priorities?
      • Are there other local/state events, emergencies, or changes in the status of your advocacy partners that affected your work this year?
    • Share one story that demonstrates how your organization grew in capacity this year, or how you used existing capacity to respond to a particular challenge or opportunity.
    • If you distributed a portion of the Rx funds as field grants to partner organizations, tell us about those partnerships and how the field grants link to the goals you set out for building capacity.
    • Share any feedback or reflections on the Learning Community. What has been useful to you? Have you connected with other individuals or organizations? Do you have suggestions for making the community a more useful resource moving forward?
  4. Advocacy capacity self-assessment: Please follow this link to complete the ACT! Quick, a shorter version of the Advocacy Capacity Tool that you may have completed as part of your proposal planning process. As you answer these questions, please note for yourself areas in which your organization is strongest, areas where you have strong partnerships, and 1-3 areas in which you want to strengthen capacity within your organization or coalitions.
  5. Finance Report:
    • Report spending to date against the budget in the format you submitted with your proposal, and include a narrative explanation for any big changes in spending relative to what you had planned (a general guideline is a variance of +/- 15% or greater).
    • Submit a budget for how you plan to use the second year of grant funds.