Patti Patrizi, Principal, Patrizi Associates
Patti Patrizi works with a broad range of philanthropies and non-profits in evaluation, strategic planning, and organizational learning. From 1988-96 she served as the first director of evaluation at The Pew Charitable Trusts. She then founded and directed, until recently, “The Evaluation Roundtable,” a group of evaluation and program executives from more than 50 foundations dedicated to improving evaluation practices across philanthropy.
A major focus of Patrizi’s work is developing full systems of learning and evaluation for foundations and helping staff integrate this learning into their practice. She has recently authored two papers on foundation strategy, “Beyond the Veneer of Strategic Philanthropy” and “Eyes Wide Open: Learning as Strategy Under Conditions of Complexity and Uncertainty,” both published in The Foundation Review. Along with Michael Quinn Patton, she edited two volumes of New Directions in Evaluation concerned with learning during the course of strategy. She led the “Practice Matters: The Improving Philanthropy Project,” which resulted in a series of articles published on the Foundation Center website. She has been the principal investigator on nearly 100 evaluations and projects across the world.