Request for Proposal

Childhood Bereavement Changemakers Initiative

The Childhood Bereavement Changemaker Initiative is an evaluation capacity building program developed by Judi’s House/JAG Institute in partnership with the New York Life Foundation to support agencies in understanding and using data to strengthen services for bereaved children and families.

The Childhood Bereavement Changemaker (CBC) Initiative allows participating organizations access to a unique, sequenced, evaluation training model. The model includes interactive workshops, expert consultation, program evaluation resources and templates, and peer networking. After fully engaging in this learning process, organizations will be equipped to inform planning, influence change, increase funding, and enhance overall impact—ultimately ensuring bereaved children in their community have the care they need.

Selected Childhood Bereavement Changemakers (Changemakers) will participate in a series of four two-hour workshops in preparation for completing capacity building activities and exercises. Between workshops, Changemakers will participate in group and individual technical assistance sessions with the Judi’s House/JAG team to support these activities. Changemakers will become part of our extended alumni network that supports organizations tackling similar obstacles to create a broad learning community dedicated to elevating evaluation practice and data utilization in the field. Offered at no cost to participants, the initiative provides selected Changemakers unparalleled support and continuing education credits where applicable.

This RFP is for the March 2026 – February 2027 Childhood Bereavement Changemaker cohort. Organizations committed to growing their evaluation capacity to elevate childhood bereavement with the necessary time and resources to dedicate to the CBC process should review the entire RFP and submit a completed application online^† no later than 11:59 pm MST on Monday, December 1, 2025.

Once you start the application in our survey platform, your work will not be saved until you click the final ‘Submit’ button. Please use the information below to prepare your application in advance so you can complete it in one sitting.

^†Only Childhood Bereavement Changemaker Applications submitted online will be considered.

Benefits for Changemakers

• Strengthen understanding of evaluation planning and implementation, data collection, and data utilization
• Access essential data to drive decision making for organizational growth and enhanced impact
• Build connections with local and national partners through thoughtful dialogue about field-specific data and evaluation best practices
• Collaborate with Judi’s House/JAG Institute Team of multi-disciplinary experts
• Inform planning, influence policy change, and increase funding
• Free evaluation consultation during the initiative
• Completion of an evaluation plan to support sustainable on-going evaluation practices
• Changemakers are eligible for ongoing consultation at a discounted rate upon cohort completion
• Recognition as a valued Changemaker partner on the Judi’s House/JAG Institute website and other public releases

Changemaker Investment

• Staff Time/Resources
  • Based on previous Changemakers’ experiences, your team can expect to spend 8-12 hours/month across the 12-month program period
• Knowledge and information sharing, including contribution to repository of evaluation best practice tools and measures.
• Stakeholder engagement

Changemaker Requirements

• Participate in four 2-hour virtual evaluation workshops
• Prepare for & participate in four 2-hour virtual group technical assistance sessions
• Prepare for & participate in monthly 1-hour individual technical assistance sessions with Judi’s House/JAG Institute team
  • Meet via Zoom, utilize online resources and share documents for review and collaboration through a designated online platform, collaboratively develop agendas for sessions through the online platform
• Attend annual in-person collaborative meeting in conjunction with 2026 NACG Symposium (if attending)
• Implement practical recommendations and keep leadership stakeholders informed of evaluation decisions
• Review and/or provide critical feedback on Judi’s House/JAG Institute deliverables
• Adhere to general CBC Initiative timeline and approved partner-specific timelines
• Maintain consistent communication throughout collaboration

What Changemakers Will Receive

Training and consultative program valued at over $60,000 to include:

• Four interactive workshops
  • Module 1 Preparation: Supports Changemakers in getting started with basic program evaluation, including capacity assessment, stakeholder engagement, defining their model, setting goals, identifying barriers, and evaluation planning
  • Module 2 Planning & Implementation: Prepares Changemakers to select initial data to collect, create data collection tools and protocols, and begin data collection
  • Module 3 Data Cleaning & Analysis: Support ongoing data collection while setting up Changemakers for cleaning, quantitative and qualitative analysis, interpretation, and reporting
  • Module 4 Utilization & Reflection: Strengthens Changemakers’ data utilization skills, including planning for internal data discussions, surfacing learnings, adjusting data collection plans, making data-informed decisions, utilizing data to tell their story of impact to stakeholders, and acting on findings
• Evaluation workbook – resources and templates to support best practice program evaluation
• Four group evaluation assistance sessions alongside other Changemakers
• Monthly individual assistance, including review of Changemaker-developed evaluation tools
• Practical recommendations
• Meeting coordination and forum provided for Changemaker learning community

What the Changemaker Initiative is Not

• A chance to obtain standardized evaluation protocols and data collection tools. Instead, it is an opportunity to refine or develop new tools in collaboration with experts at Judi’s House/JAG Institute based on your organization’s evaluation goal/questions and your specific program
• A one-size-fits-all program evaluation solution. This initiative involves learning alongside other organizations working in the family bereavement field who are invested in improving their evaluation practices and utilizing data to drive decisions, improve programming, and increase funding towards sustainability.
• A certificate program. However, Changemakers will have the opportunity to earn continuing education credits for counseling or social work and will be recognized as a Changemaker on the Judi’s House website.

CHILDHOOD BEREAVEMENT CHANGEMAKER TIMELINE

November 3, 2025: CBC Initiative RFP opens

November 10, 2025, 12:00 pm ET: CBC/Grief Reach Q&A call with JH/JAG and NACG → Watch Now

December 1, 2025: CBC Initiative applications due

Late February, 2026: Selected Changemakers announced

March 2026 – February 2027: Changemakers participate in CBC Initiative

ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION

• Organization name
• Year organization started
• Organization website
• Number of full-time staff
• Address of the primary location where your organization provides services
• Main contact name, title, email, and phone number
• Name, role, and contact information for the primary staff member who will participate in the initiative

SERVICE DETAILS

• Number of locations where organization provides services
• Counties organization serves

SERVICES/PROGRAMS OFFERED (CHECK ALL THAT APPLY)

• Advocacy
• Camp
• Grief education
• Group therapy
• Individual/family therapy
• Parent education
• Peer support groups
• Professional training
• Social activities for bereaved youth
• Other (specify)

EVALUATION PRIORITY

• What one service/program are you most interested in examining and evaluating through the CBC Initiative?

CBC-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

• How will the evaluation resources and learnings from the CBC Initiative enhance your work?
• What are your organization’s biggest challenges in gathering and using data and/or implementing evaluation processes?
• Does your organization have the capacity to participate in the CBC Initiative? (8-12 hours/month)?
  • Please describe how your team will reserve adequate time to dedicate to building evaluation capacity and completing learning exercises during the CBC Initiative.
• What would your organization consider to be the most successful outcome of this collaboration in the CBC Initiative?

POPULATION SERVED LAST YEAR

• How many total people did your organization serve last year?
• How many total children did your organization serve last year?
• Age groups served by your organization last year (check all that apply):
  • 0-4 years
  • 5-8 years
  • 9-13 years
  • 14-18 years
  • 19-25 years
  • Families
• Additional information about the populations/ subpopulations your organization serves that you would like to share
• Please indicate what data you currently collect (check all that apply)
  • Informed consent
  • Demographics (age, gender, race, etc.)
  • Income
  • Cause of death
  • Attendance at the individual and/or group level
  • Scientifically validated measures
  • Pre-test impact
  • Post-test impact
  • Process
  • Satisfaction
  • Other (specify)
• Please indicate the current data storage system(s) you use to evaluate process and/or impact (check all that apply)
  • Excel
  • SQL database
  • Electronic Health Record (EHR) system
  • Customer Relations Management (CMR) system
  • Other (specify)

ANNUAL REPORT

Please provide a link to your organization’s most recent Annual Report (optional).

EVALUATION READINESS¹

To help assess your readiness for evaluation, rate your organization to the best of your ability using the scale below. The assessment results will help the Judi’s House/JAG Institute Team understand your organization’s current needs in evaluation capacity building.

Ratings:

• 0: Not at all True
• 1: Somewhat True
• 2: Very True

1. Program Goals Identified

• Organization has program goals and objectives
• Program descriptions are consistent and clear.
• Program activities align to the organization’s mission.
• Organization has documentation that outlines program model, which may be a logic model, work plan and/or program planning and evaluation model.

2. Measurable Outcomes

• Organization has clear measurable outcomes that align to the mission statement.
• All staff are aware of these measurable outcomes.
• These outcomes identify what change is expected to occur, in what way, and with what group(s).
  • Example: More than half of program participants show improvements in grief-related symptoms.

3. Data Collection Tools

• Organization has data collection tools that measure the outcomes. This may include intake forms, surveys, focus group question guides, and other methodologies.

4. Data Collection Process

• Organization has at least one staff member charged with overseeing all data collection efforts. A third-party evaluator may also be involved.
• Data collection protocol is established.
• Data collectors are trained.
• Written documentation about data collection process, confidentiality, and data security is in place.

5. Data Management

• Organization has a data management system in place.
• There is a process to enter data (if collected on paper).
• There is a database that can be managed internally or externally.
• There is a codebook to ensure data are managed in a consistent manner.
• There is a data management training for staff and/or volunteers.

6. Data Analysis and Reporting

• Organization has identified parties that have the time and skills to analyze data and synthesize into a meaningful report.

7. Communicate Data

• There is a clear communications plan of how evaluation reports will be shared with different groups, such as funders, participants, staff, board members, and the community at large (if applicable).

8. Usage of Data

• Organization uses data for continuous program improvement as well as accountability to key stakeholders.
• There is a culture of evaluative thinking, where data-based decision making is integrated into the organization’s culture.

By submitting the completed Childhood Bereavement Changemaker Application, the organization agrees to contribute all investments, meet all requirements, and abide by all timelines outlined in the Childhood Bereavement Changemaker Request for Proposal.

Do you have questions about your application or the application process? Email our Childhood Bereavement Changemaker staff at MariaB@judishouse.org and MaddyS@judishouse.org.

SOURCES

1. Adapted from Smith, C. (2017). Evaluation Readiness Assessment. Retrieved from https://evaluationintoaction.com/evaluation-readiness-assessment/