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Participatory Monitoring Evaluation and Learning Update

Jul 22, 2025 | John Matthew Sobrato, Director, Impact and Learning

Our philanthropic work in the Silicon Valley Region is one of our deepest expressions of The Sobrato Organization’s mission. We stand with, and support, thriving communities by focusing on those in greatest need of opportunity: low wage and housing insecure residents and families. Our commitment to our region, and those that live and work here, guided our decision to pursue a participatory approach to evaluating collective impact over time.

As background, in 2023 Sobrato Philanthropies (SP) embarked on a journey to listen to individuals and organizations, as well as learn from past approaches to evaluation. That year we designed a new approach to learning about the impact of our philanthropic investments in the region and determined we would pursue a participatory evaluation. In 2024, together with our grantees, we hired a team of evaluation partners. Since then, those evaluation partners have been onboarded and are currently working closely with us to deepen our implementation of participatory monitoring, evaluation, and learning (PMEL).

Introducing Our Three PMEL Partners

We are pleased to introduce the three organizations that were selected, alongside our grantees, to join our PMEL efforts:

  • Learning for Action (LFA) is a small consulting firm that partners with social sector organizations to strengthen their learning culture and practice in service of equity. LFA works closely with SP’s Silicon Valley Program to steward the overall direction and implementation of our PMEL work. LFA also convenes the key groups working on PMEL – including the Steering Team, the Grantee Working Group, the PMEL Partners, and Silicon Valley Program staff.
  • The Center for Outcomes Research and Education (CORE) is an independent team of scientists, researchers, and data experts with a vision for a healthier, more equitable future. CORE brings experience in measurement design and planning, impact study development, and network ecosystem analysis to the PMEL team.
  • Mosaic America is a nonprofit committed to advancing social cohesion through storytelling, cultural exchange, and place-based engagement. As a PMEL partner, Mosaic co-leads participatory learning processes with a special focus on community storytelling and asset mapping. Through tools like the Mosaic Atlas, we can surface local knowledge, highlight community strengths, and inform strategy with grounded insights that center the lived experiences of low-wage, housing-insecure, and excluded communities across the region.

Key PMEL Updates

As a starting point, these partners have focused on two steps that are foundational to developing a robust and meaningful PMEL plan:

  1. Draft learning questions that will help guide and focus the PMEL work.
  2. Document the Silicon Valley Program’s theory of change, articulating how this strategy and its key funding areas and approaches lead to near-, mid-, and long-term outcomes.

In addition, our team has worked with LFA to stand up additional groups to serve as key PMEL advisors.

  • Grantee Working Group. At the start of 2025, a Grantee Working Group (GWG) was formed to influence and inform the PMEL work. The group is made up of members from 12 grantee organizations representing the three investment areas of the Silicon Valley Program and priority communities. For more details see last quarter’s Top of Mind. To date, the GWG has helped to shape the overarching learning questions that guide the PMEL work and the mid- and long-term outcomes of the Silicon Valley Program strategy that will be monitored and evaluated over the next 10 years.
  • PMEL Steering Team. The Steering Team members represent perspectives from the Silicon Valley Program team and our partners—CORE, Mosaic America, and LFA. The Team is responsible for guiding the direction and setting the priorities of the PMEL work and gathering input and recommendations from the other PMEL bodies (PMEL Partners, Grantee Working Group, Silicon Valley Program team staff).

PMEL Work for the Remainder of 2025

Measure Mapping & Next Level PMEL Planning. A key part of the early-stage work on evaluating the Silicon Valley Program is deciding what is meaningful to measure and monitor. The perspectives of grantees, community members, and other interested parties are particularly valuable for shifting power and ensuring that the outputs of data collection or evaluation are of value to those closest to the efforts of the Silicon Valley Program initiative.

Learning questions and theories of change provided initial direction on what actions and outcomes are important to track. The CORE team is now reviewing and consolidating the mid- and long-term outcomes identified by staff, as well as working to build consensus on conceptual definitions for each outcome. Next steps include measure mapping, which is the process by which potential options for measurement of each outcome are explored and vetted, and measurement planning, where specific plans for accessing existing data and collecting new data will be developed.

Story Maps & Mosaic Atlas. Over the next year, Mosaic America will develop Story Maps for East San Jose and Gilroy that lift local voices, assets, and collaborations advancing belonging, economic mobility, and systems change. Through interviews, data, and visual storytelling, each map will align with the PMEL learning goals—highlighting community-driven efforts and tracking progress on shared outcomes.

Mosaic also will lead field-based asset mapping to identify organizations, networks, and cultural anchors that may not appear through online research alone. This deeper, on-the-ground approach is designed to surface grassroots infrastructure and emerging leaders, helping Sobrato and its partners better understand and support the ecosystems already at work in each community.

Grantee Data Assessment. LFA is leading the design of a Grantee Data Assessment that will be rolled out in the fall. This assessment will help us understand what data grantee partners are already collecting that might be available for the evaluation. As part of the assessment, we will explore what types of technical assistance might be needed to support grantee partners to collect and report specific types of data and, more broadly, what additional evaluation and data technical assistance and capacity building grantee partners might be interested in.

We’re proud of this innovative body of PMEL work and deeply appreciate the partnership so many of you have provided along the way. Please reach out to your program officer with any questions. As always, we welcome your feedback and questions.

Additional Resources and Links – Silicon Valley Program Briefing

In the Spring of 2024, we held virtual briefings for our grantees on the Silicon Valley Strategy and the way we planned to approach our philanthropic investments and role as a funder in the years ahead. Below are links to resources that may be helpful: