We’ve explored evaluation topics for several weeks and want to offer one more week of evaluation information—focusing on tools and resources.
There are many compelling reasons to evaluate—your staff, your leadership, your programs—and none are quite as compelling as the increasing scrutiny of outcomes-conscious funders. Program assessment policies and procedures are critical to your organization’s success as they allow you to identify necessary areas for improvement before your funders do so!
The Foundation Center has an excellent video training related to this.
Using Evaluation Frameworks to Communicate with Funders
Another online resource of evaluation information is PerformWell, a collaborative effort of the Urba Program Evaluation Guided Trends and Social Solutions. The website provides evaluation tools and practical advice useful in the day-to-day management of your programs. Perform Well
Learning about outcome-based evaluation is important in today’s nonprofit climate. The Free Management Library offers an excellent evaluation guide that includes outcome-based evaluation tips. The guide is applicable to the for- and non-profit sectors. It covers a wide variety of evaluations—goals based, process-based and outcomes-based. It is particularly useful if you are new to outcome-based evaluation. Program Evaluation Guide
If you are interested in evaluating the larger impact of your programs, Social Solutions has a blog post offering excellent advice. The blog acknowledges the importance of tracking data—the number of people you’ve helped is important—it encourages you to also examine the impact on the whole community you serve.
The blog states, “Impact, simply put, is the overall change and influence your organization is having on your clients and the whole community.” This approach guides nonprofits toward a larger viewpoint for determining success. Your impact can be different things, depending on your organization’s mission and programs. Social Solutions Blog
