Nadine Dechausay is the Director of Learning and Insights at Communities Foundation of Texas. Drawing on her career as an evaluator, she is responsible for building out a learning function that tracks the impacts of foundation investments, mobilizes knowledge in service of strategy, and builds evaluation capacity within the social sector. She is committed to storytelling to advance collective understanding of implementation experiences, and to helping leaders use data and evidence for continuous program improvement. Prior to assuming this role, Nadine oversaw grantmaking for the W.W. Caruth Jr. Fund where she introduced new practices focused on equity, outcomes-tracking, and using design to support social innovation.
Prior to joining CFT in 2018, Nadine was Senior Research Associate at MDRC, a national social policy research firm, where she directed the Center for Applied Behavioral Science and managed several national and local evaluations. She has published implementation research findings, and spoken widely on topics related to behavioral economics, incentives, and evidence-based policymaking. She is an expert in design thinking who has helped nonprofit leaders innovate by applying behavioral insights and leveraging new technologies.
Nadine holds a J.D. with honors, and M.A. degrees in Criminology and Applied Psychology from the University of Toronto. She has undergraduate degrees in Education and Human Biology from Brown University. She was the 2020 Designer in Residence for SMU’s Master of Arts in Design and Innovation.