June 2026

By Alina Taniuchi, ETB Incubator Project Manager

Through Expanding the Bench® (ETB), we have learned that evaluation is strongest when contributors from diverse perspectives commit to shared learning and equitable practice, build authentic relationships, and create the conditions for connection and collective action. What we have observed and supported is an evaluation ecosystem rooted in culturally responsive and equitable evaluation (CREE).

Over the past year and a half, we have extended that learning to explore what happens when infrastructure, capacity, and partnerships are intentionally nurtured in regional contexts and local communities. We have been encouraged by the enthusiasm for a place-based ETB approach and wanted to share what we are learning.

We began in the U.S. South. With generous support from philanthropic partners, we set out to better understand evaluation across Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. We connected with evaluators in academia, philanthropy, philanthropy support organizations, and partner organizations, including the Gulf Coast Evaluator Network (GC Eval), a local American Evaluation Association affiliate.

Having a local evaluator network partner is critical to understanding context, current conditions, and pathways toward a stronger local evaluation system, what we refer to as a microsystem. We are now working to engage funders across these states and hope to convene a “Listen, Learn, and Dream” gathering to explore whether collective investment in the evaluation microsystem is possible.

In California, our work began through conversations with funders. For years, ETB and California-based funders have discussed how a regional approach could support evaluators across the state. On Oct. 30, 2025, funders came together for a Listen, Learn, and Dream convening to articulate a shared vision, identify emerging trends in evaluation, and explore what it would take to strengthen California’s evaluation microsystem.

We then met with evaluators from the Advancing Culturally-responsive and Equitable (ACE) Evaluation Network, as well as others recommended by participating funders. Across both groups, we found strong alignment around the value of a statewide approach, including opportunities for shared learning, stronger collaboration between funders and evaluators, and increased support for early-career evaluators. We are currently working to secure collective funding to continue this effort in California.

Our newest regional effort is taking shape in Southern New England, spanning Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. We are meeting with funders across the region to co-host this work and are planning a Listen, Learn, and Dream convening for mid-July. As we launch this effort, we are building on lessons learned from both the U.S. South and California.

While each region requires a unique approach tailored to its people and place, several lessons continue to emerge. Building an evaluation ecosystem, or microsystem, that engages a variety of contributors benefits everyone, including funders, evaluators, nonprofits, and academics. Infrastructure, capacity, and relationships all matter. We are also learning that there is a general lifecycle to this work, though the pace and approach vary by local context and regional norms.

Ultimately, the goal of ETB: Regional is to partner with local contributors to build evaluation microsystems that are more equitable, collaborative, and sustainable, and that are led by the people who live and work in those communities.