Nonprofits & Community Groups

Two distinct uses

Nonprofits tend to use this material in two ways, and they need different things.

With the people you serve. Thecommunity discussion guide is a complete ninety-minute session. It works best attached to an existing gathering rather than promoted as a standalone event, because the people who most benefit are rarely the people who sign up for a workshop about information.

Internally, on your own decisions. Theassumption audit worksheet is designed for a team examining a conclusion it has already reached, such as why a campaign underperformed or whether a programme is working. This is where the reasoning tools do the most immediate good, and it is the use organizations most often overlook.

Choosing a claim for a session

Pick something checkable, currently circulating, and not tied to a live local dispute. Consumer, health, and local-service claims work far better than political ones for a first session. Verify it fully yourself beforehand, including whichever way it resolves, and be prepared for the answer to be "it is more complicated than either side says", which is the most instructive outcome.

Reporting to funders

Six headline classifications before and after a session, three reliable and three not, take five minutes and produce a defensible pre and post measure for your own population. Published studies cannot answer a funder's question about your community. Your own five-minute measure can.

Our evidence review states plainly what the research supports and what it does not, which is useful when writing a proposal that has to be honest about expected effects.