Exploring Engagement Fund
Reporting Instructions and Narrative Report Form
(For grants awarded in 2015 - 2016)
ORGANIZATION NAME (please complete):
GRANT NUMBER (please complete):
DATE (please complete):
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
Please use this form and the corresponding Excel workbooks to complete your Narrative Report,
Financial Report, and Engagement Grid. Please keep the length of the Narrative Report to 10 pages or
less. Please type your answers in the gray section under each question – each field will expand as you
type.
Please submit all of your reporting documents through the Foundation’s online system using your
account, accessible through our website: www.irvine.org/grantees. If you need assistance in accessing
your online account, please contact the Foundation’s Grants Administration staff at (415) 356-9996.
Please contact your program officer for approval of any changes to your grant objectives, goals and/or
budget before proceeding. Changes to your grant must be approved in advance and should be reflected
in your Narrative and Financial Reports and Engagement Grid.
SECTION 1 – NARRATIVE REPORTING ON THE PROJECT
Describe below the progress you’ve made, what you’ve learned, and share any other comments with us
to improve the process.
A. Exploring Engagement Fund grants are intended to serve as risk capital and opportunities for
experimentation, with the expectation that some projects will not be successful. With this in
mind, what has your organization learned through this project?
B. Summarize your progress on each of the project objectives included in your grant agreement.
Please describe what activities/strategies were conducted and how successful you have been at
implementing your intended activities/strategies.
C. Summarize your progress towards achieving the expected outcomes for your Exploring
Engagement Fund project, as stated in your original proposal (or as subsequently revised in
consultation with Irvine).
D. Given the experimental nature of Exploring Engagement Fund projects, you may have experienced
challenges or obstacles during the execution of your project. If so, please tell us about any
Exploring Engagement Fund: Reporting Instructions and Narrative Report Form
(For grants awarded in 2015 - 2016)
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challenges or obstacles you have experienced and how they have affected your project. Describe
any adjustments, changes planned, or approved changes made to your project objectives or work
plan.
E. Describe the intended or unintended effects this project has had on your organization. For
example, have you developed or strengthened relationships with new communities and/or
partner organizations? Consider the effects on your programming, staff, board, and constituents.
F. (Optional) Please include any additional comments to help Irvine be more effective with our work
in this area, including in this reporting process.
SECTION 2 – FINANCIAL REPORT
Please complete your Financial Report using the Excel workbook titled “Financial Report Template”.
When completing your Financial Report, please refer to your Grant Agreement for your approved grant
budget. You can also find a copy of the Financial Report Template on our website.
In addition, please submit a copy of your organization’s most recent audited financial statements
generated since your last report or proposal submission to the Foundation. If your organization does not
have audited financial statements, please submit compiled or unaudited financial reports.
SECTION 3 – ENGAGEMENT GRID AND NARRATIVE
This section of your report has two steps: 1) filling out the Engagement Grid in Tab 1 of the Excel
workbook titled “Engagement Grid” with estimates related to engagement you observed during the
implementation of your project; and 2) writing some narrative responses that will help us better
understand the data you provided on Tab 1 of the Engagement Grid. The narrative section follows the
Engagement Grid-related instructions below.
Irvine has contracted with consultants from Harder+Company Community Research to provide
optional technical assistance related to your data collection needs for your Exploring Engagement
Fund project and to help you with these reporting requirements. Harder+Company will contact your
organization directly to further discuss this optional assistance.
1) Filling out the Engagement Grid
Please refer to the Excel workbook titled “Engagement Grid” and review the instructions below
before completing the grid on Tab 1 with your estimates.
We are requesting information about arts engagement and your project participants in a
standardized way so that we can learn how arts engagement works through projects funded by the
Exploring Engagement Fund. Over time, we hope to better understand how people are engaging in
the arts in California and to share this information with the field.
Exploring Engagement Fund: Reporting Instructions and Narrative Report Form
(For grants awarded in 2015 - 2016)
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Please complete the Engagement Grid to report what you’ve observed for the programs and
activities supported by this grant and the number of people engaged in different ways through your
project. Please provide us with the best estimates and information available at the time of your
report. Informed estimates are a valid method of producing field-related data, so we welcome your
best judgments regarding the related numbers and participant characteristics for the Grid. You can
also find a copy of the Engagement Grid on our website.
Program/Activity Overview section of the Grid:
Each row of the Engagement Grid (Tab 1) should capture a single grant-funded program or activity.
In addition to the program/activity name and date, please include the general type of
program/activity, such as workshop, exhibit, or performance. For projects such as a multi-part class
or workshop that consist of a series of events that engage the same people repeatedly over time,
please capture the entire series in a single row and write “yes” and list the number of events in the
series in the Activity Series column. Note: To assist you as you complete the Engagement Grid, we
provided a Sample Engagement Grid on Tab 2 of the Excel workbook.
Participant Characteristics section of the Grid:
This section of the Grid in Tab 1 asks you to share information about participant characteristics for
your project, including the race/ethnicity and income level of your participants. Remember that
informed estimates for this demographic information are sufficient. When addressing the
race/ethnicity of your participants, drawing on your most recent data or best estimate, please tell us
what percent are the following races/ethnicities. The sum of all percentages should be 100 percent.
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African American/Black
Asian/Pacific Islander
Caucasian/White
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Hispanic/Latino
American Indian/Alaska Native
Two or more races/ethnicities
(please specify, if known)
When addressing the income level of your participants, drawing on your most recent data or best
estimate, please tell us the approximate percentage of low-income participants in your grant-funded
activities, if applicable to your Exploring Engagement Fund project. For this column of the Grid,
please choose the appropriate low-income participation range from the drop-down menu: Below
5%, 5-20%, 21-40%, 41-60%, 61-80%, 81-100%.
Modes of Participation section of the Grid:
When completing the Modes of Participation section on the Engagement Grid (Tab 1), consider that
each participant might be participating in more than one mode. Participants should be counted in all
modes that best represent their engagement in the arts activity – the modes of arts participation are
not intended to be mutually exclusive. Note: To assist you as you complete this part of the
Engagement Grid, we provided definitions and examples of the five modes of participation in a chart
located in Tab 3 of the Excel workbook.1
Notes and Additional Reflections section of the Grid:
This section is optional and intended for your organization’s use throughout the implementation of
your project if helpful as you track your activities.
The modes of participation were informed by The James Irvine Foundation’s “Getting in on the Act” report by WolfBrown as well as other
relevant research in the field. Some modes have been customized to be most relevant to Exploring Engagement Fund projects.
1
Exploring Engagement Fund: Reporting Instructions and Narrative Report Form
(For grants awarded in 2015 - 2016)
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2) Engagement Grid Narrative
To help us better understand the data provided in your Engagement Grid, please answer the
following questions on this form below:
A. How did you collect the data provided in your Engagement Grid, i.e. participant characteristics
and modes of participation? Please describe the methods you used for measuring or estimating
your figures.
B. If you used surveys or other methods to evaluate program activities supported by the Exploring
Engagement Fund, please share a summary of survey results and the methods used to administer
the surveys. The participant survey results of particular interest are:
o Participant response to programming (satisfaction, engagement, attitudes, knowledge
gained)
o Previous participant experience with this form of the arts
C. How does the participant engagement reported in your Engagement Grid compare to the
expected engagement outcomes for your project? Are the participants described in your Grid
different from your organization’s typical audience? If so, please explain how.
REPORT SUBMISSION CHECKLIST:
Please use the checklist below to ensure all appropriate reporting documents are submitted to the
Foundation using our online system, accessible through our website: www.irvine.org/grantees. Copies of
these Reporting Instructions, Narrative Report Form, Financial Report Template, and Engagement Grid
are also available on our website.
Exploring Engagement Fund Narrative Report Form - to be completed above in this Word
document form
Financial Report – to be completed in the provided Excel workbook titled “Financial Report
Template”
Engagement Grid – to be completed in the provided Excel workbook titled “Engagement Grid”
Most recent audit, compiled financial statements or unaudited financial statements
Exploring Engagement Fund: Reporting Instructions and Narrative Report Form
(For grants awarded in 2015 - 2016)
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