On 7th February 2025, the Equitable Evaluation Collective (EEC) hosted a governance workshop to explore how we can move towards a more decentralised model. With participation from eight engaged members, we discussed how EEC can evolve to better reflect and serve its growing community. This workshop is part of our commitment to open communication and collective decision-making, and we are excited to share the key insights wider

Why Decentralised Governance?

EEC was founded to advance thinking and practice on equitable evaluation in the UK social sector. Over time, our community has grown to over 200 people, with diverse perspectives and a shared passion for embedding equity in evaluation. As we expand, we want to ensure our governance structure reflects our community’s needs and aspirations. A decentralised model would help distribute decision-making, strengthen accountability, and foster a more engaged and active network.

Key Building Blocks for a Decentralised EEC

From our research on decentralised governance, we identified five key building blocks for EEC’s transition. In the governance workshop, we came up with useful actions for the short, medium and long terms. The participants also voted on the most important actions to enable EEC’s decentralised model. All the ideas are captured here. We discuss the prioritised actions below.

A Shared Mission

Our mission to advance equitable evaluation in the UK has guided EEC’s journey, but we recognise the need to ensure it evolves with our community. The workshop highlighted the importance of co-creating a refreshed mission/vision statement, inviting EEC members to vote or comment on different drafts.

A Broad and Engaged Community

For EEC to thrive as a decentralised collective, we need a strong and interactive community. The governance workshop teased out these priorities:

• Clarifying whether we aim for a larger community or a smaller, highly engaged one.
• Defining success metrics for the EEC community (Should EEC focus on sharing resources, advocating for changes, developing guidance, or anything else?)

Open Communication

A decentralised EEC requires transparent and inclusive communication. We will keep sharing our journey with the wider EEC community to ensure members stay informed and connected. To amplify our reach and impact, we will also aim to build strategic partnerships with infrastructure organisations in the UK evaluation sector.

Sustainable Operational Resourcing

Currently, EEC operates with limited funding. A lot of EEC’s operations and activities have been supported by in-kind contributions from its founding organisations, Charity Evaluation Working Group – ChEW and TSIC. We are grateful to receive some grants from Power to Change and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation in 2023, which has enabled us to conduct crucial research on the state of equitable evaluation in the UK and deliver subsequent communications and advocacy. To sustain and scale our work, the governance workshop identified these urgent actions:

• Securing buy-ins from multiple funders on EEC’s mission
• Seeking funding from trusts and foundations and in-kind support from funders on specific operational activities (such as communications).

Democratic Decision-Making

For decentralised governance to work, we need clear and participatory decision-making processes. The workshop explored the idea of governance circles, inspired by the Participatory Grantmaking Community’s model. Immediate next steps include:

• Designing simple governance circles with clear roles, responsibilities, terms and pay policies.
• Initiating targeted outreach for recruiting circle members.

Next Steps: Turning Ideas into Action

We will focus our energy on prioritised actions to strengthen the EEC’s decentralised infrastructure. This transition will only be successful with collective input and action. We invite all EEC members to:

• Share their thoughts on our mission (Stay tuned – we will ask for your opinions in our LinkedIn Group).
• Contribute ideas or examples of effective decentralised governance (We’d really appreciate it if you could share examples via [email protected] or have a chat with us!)
• Engage with us on LinkedIn and through upcoming events.

With its growing community, EEC can be a place where diverse stakeholders exchange knowledge and practices of equitable evaluation in the UK. EEC’s focus will remain guided by community needs. We will continue to share updates and seek input as we move forward.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the workshop – your insights are shaping the future of EEC!

EEC Governance Workshop Participants (by alphabetical order of first name): Andy Curtis, Bethia McNeil, Claudia Useche, Dan Pledger, Emma Roberts, Jami Dixon, Kirsty Gillan-Thomas, Rozia Hussain, Tracey Gyateng and Yu-Shan Chiu. We also appreciate Kelley Buhles sharing her insights on the Participatory Grantmaking Community’s governance journey.