Scaling an Intervention: Recommendations and Resources

Successfully scaling effective interventions can help funders and their grantee organizations improve lives for large numbers of individuals and communities. AmeriCorps recognizes this potential and, in 2016, funded Mathematica to undertake the Scaling Evidence-Based Models (SEBM) project to gain insights about which of the interventions it funded showed evidence of effectiveness and might be ready to scale. By undertaking this project, AmeriCorps sought uniformity, strategic learning, and a focused vision to evaluate the range of existing evidence frameworks and metrics for determining what constitutes an effective intervention as applicable to its programs.

AmeriCorps commissioned this guide to disseminate the knowledge gained from the SEBM project and provide practical recommendations for how funders, including governmental agencies and philanthropic organizations, should think about and plan for scaling. Furthermore, this guide highlights for funders how they might better understand evidence of intervention effectiveness and readiness for organization and intervention scaling by undertaking a systematic process to assess scaling readiness of the interventions they fund.