Why Evaluate?
Who should be involved in the evaluation process?
How does our organization position itself to initiate a new evaluation program?
How does an organization develop performance measures?
What is the difference between an objective, goal, and outcome?
Do we need a logic model?
What is the purpose of a pilot evaluation?
What are the primary end uses for evaluation results?
Disclaimer:
These articles, samples, and resources are offered for informational purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice. If used, your organization should tailor samples to best fit the organization’s specific circumstances. We encourage your organization to seek appropriate professional assistance as needed.
Nonprofits offer valuable programs and services to Colorado citizens, and have a responsibility to assess the impact of their programs and to act upon the information they gather. Stakeholders, including donors, constituents, staff, volunteers, and the public, should have an interest in what your organization is actually accomplishing. Sound evaluation practices will give you organization a tool to share your results with your stakeholders and solicit feedback. See FAQ:Who should be involved in the evaluation process? for more information on involving the right people in the process.
1. Evaluation enables your organization to better achieve its mission.
2. Your organization will be better able to demonstrate proven results to donors.
3. A well-designed evaluation process, coupled with a good planning process, will strengthen the engagement level of your organization’s constituency.
While the task may sound ominous, it is actually a compilation of a number of simple steps. The key is to determine reasonable and meaningful objectives that will lead the organization to the outcomes you desire, and then check to see that the processes you have identified to reach the outcomes are the appropriate.
Evaluation is inseparable from planning. Please also see our FAQs & Resources: Planning page for further information.
In order for your nonprofit to be responsive to the needs of your community, your programs should take into account and respond to the experience, needs and satisfaction of your constituents. Part of that process entails adopting a Grievance Policy to address complaints.
A nonprofit should also be open to hearing from and having comprehensive discussions with members of the public who may question the organization’s effectiveness. Since 501(c)(3) nonprofits are granted tax-exempt status based on serving a charitable cause for the public good, it just makes good sense that a nonprofit ought to be actively soliciting feedback from the public.
Nonprofit organizations should ensure cultural competence by researching and implementing elements of inclusiveness at every level. Inclusive practices will increase effectiveness of programs by addressing the specific needs of each community, increasing community participation, and ensuring open lines of communication. The Denver Foundation is an excellent resource for Colorado nonprofits seeking to increase inclusiveness practices. For more information visit the Foundation’s website at www.denverfoundation.org.
All staff and volunteers in your organization should be committed to effective and efficient delivery of services, and should always strive to improve processes, programs, and results. By soliciting feedback from a variety of sources, your organization will be in a great position to constantly investigate ways to do so.
Long story short, all of your organization’s stakeholders should be involved in the evaluation process in one way or another. But how does your organization position itself to be ready to start an evaluation process? And who ordinarily spearheads the initiation? See FAQ: How does our organization position itself to initiate a new evaluation program? to learn about common first steps.
Many nonprofit professionals are wary about evaluation, believing it is too difficult, time consuming, and/or expensive for their organization. While evaluation will require time and money, these resources are an investment in the continued success of the organization; furthermore, many of the myths about evaluation are extensively blown out of proportion. See Common Myths of Evaluation.
When it comes down to it, nonprofit organizations are designed to address a critical need in the community. Defining and/or refining the organization’s mission and vision is imperative for effectiveness and efficiency. Organizations should periodically check to make sure they are not duplicating services or missing key components of service. This can be accomplished by stepping out of reactive mode and carefully assessing best practices – which include community input, frequent reflection on mission alignment, and planning to take the organization into the future.
The organization’s mission, goals, and objectives should be clear, measurable, reasonable, and public. Potential individual and corporate donors now place an increasing emphasis on ensuring nonprofits achieve results relative to their stated mission, goals, and objectives in response to increased transparency and accountability standards; therefore, it is essential that the community understand the need for the programs and services offered by the nonprofit.
If your organization does not have a strong planning process, comprehensive evaluation will be much more difficult. Step number one in positioning your organization to initiate a new evaluation program is to take the time to really assess your current plan documents. Do they need to be revised to include measurable objectives? See our FAQs & Resources: Planning page for more information on this topic.
Whomever your organization puts in charge of the evaluation process will facilitate what specific outcomes will be measured as well as the method for measuring them. Depending on the scale of your evaluation program (i.e. one program or evaluation of the whole organization), different people may be put in charge. For example, if your organization would like to devote the time to develop your strategic and operational plans along with your evaluation program (see FAQs & Resources: Planning page) than your board and executive staff will likely take the lead. On the other hand, if your organization is looking to pilot your evaluation program with one or two programs, than there will probably only be a handful of staff involved. See FAQ:What is the purpose of a pilot evaluation? for more information on pilot programs.
Before anyone can develop performance measures, you need to have a basic understanding of what they should be. (For more definitions of evaluation terms, see FAQ: What is the difference between an objective, goal, and outcome? and Evaluation Terminology & Basics).
Performance measures – Performance measures should be realistic, specific, measurable, and appropriate to the size and scope of the organization and to its constituents.
Defining the scope of performance measurement is important. Organizations can focus on different areas such as productivity, monitoring and reporting, client satisfaction, budget-based performance, cost-effectiveness, efficiency, overall effectiveness, external benchmarking, contract management, and/or quality improvement.
These figures and assessments may routinely be reported to organizational management, boards, the public, and legislators to highlight accomplishments. The most common data, figures, and assessments are raw numbers, averages, percentages, ratios, and indexes.
Every program should know where it is coming from (goals and objectives) and what it is trying to accomplish (outcomes). Without the direction of goals and objectives there can be no outcomes because outcomes are specific and measurable aspects of your organization’s goals and objectives. All of these measurable items should be determined during your organization’s planning process. See our FAQs & Resources: Planning page.
Evaluation is a fluid and ongoing process occurring throughout the lifespan of your organization and your programs. Starting with goals derived from your mission statement will help you set the direction for your program. Once goals are defined, objectives will help you nail down what must actually be accomplished to achieve these goals. Outcomes are the third piece of this puzzle, providing the measurable effects the program will accomplish. When outcomes are reached new goals or objectives may need to be set, but when outcomes are not achieved it may be time to reassess. In the end, the most important practices are staying true to your mission and ensuring that you are meeting your clients’ needs.
This fact is inescapable: stakeholders want results! Funders want to know their money is making a difference, volunteers want to change the world, employees want to see their hard work pay off, and clients want efficient and effective services. Goals and objectives are extremely important, but how will your organization know it has, is, and will continue achieving its purpose for existence? The answer lies in the outcomes.
Outcomes come in many different shapes and sizes, and while some are quite common (i.e. number of people served) others are extremely unique. Outcomes can be quantitative or qualitative, and the only limitations on creating outcomes are measurability and imagination. Do not shy away from creative outcomes as long as you can develop a method to measure them. (See Dashboard (SAMPLE)).
Outcome indicators are valuable tools that help determine when benchmarks for outcomes are being met. These are specific quantitative measures such as number of, percent of, and so on; however, they can be used to represent qualitative outcomes (see Outcomes and Indicators of Nonprofit Success). For example, if you operate an after-school program about bullying and want to measure a percent increase in students’ knowledge about bullying, your outcome indicators could include the percent of students who reach a specific score on a quiz about bullying. Outcome indicators can also be separated out into different demographic units to help your organization better understand if outcomes are being met within different units of your constituents.
Using a logic model (see Logic Model (SAMPLE)) is very helpful when navigating the process of outcome measurement. According to Basic Guide to Outcomes Based Evaluation for Nonprofits with Very Little Resources, a logic model helps:
There are many different types of logic models, so if your organization does not have one for the program (or if the model is outdated), start with the basic but most important information. See Logic Model (SAMPLE).
Your organization may wish to test your evaluation approach on one or two programs before using it for all programs. Pilot evaluation programs are especially useful when your organization has multiple programs with little or no formal evaluation currently in place. The pilot will make it a little easier to determine accurately the true costs, both time and resources, that implementing a full blown evaluation program will take. Be ready to adapt your evaluation approach if you discover that you’re not actually gaining the information that you want and need. During the testing period, gather the information you’ll need to integrate the processes into your normal operations.
The more focused you are about the purpose of your evaluation, the more effective and efficient you can be in the design and implementation of evaluation plans, the more useful your evaluation results will be and ultimately the less it will cost you (whether in your own time, the time of your employees and/or the time of a consultant).
That kind of focus comes from using a formal approach to evaluation, which requires using a formal approach to designing your plans for evaluation. Organizational evaluation should be based on your strategic plan and operating plans, as well as the individual objectives of each program area. See our FAQs & Resources: Planning page for more details.
The information you gather should be put to numerous different uses throughout your organization. The results can be used to demonstrate your ability to reach specific goals and achieve quantitative and qualitative outcomes. This will be valuable information internally and externally for all of the organization’s stakeholders.
Your organization should be using evaluation results in your annual report, any brochures or marketing materials, website, funding requests, and grant reports or other reports to donors. Stakeholders expect to see tangible results, and there is a greater expectation that nonprofits should be able to justify their use of funds in accomplishing their organizations mission.
Internally, your organization should use evaluation results to constantly work to improve your programs and services. Your results should help you see both administrative/operational inefficiencies as well as programmatic areas that could use improvement. Ultimately, evaluation results will help take your organization to the next level if appropriately planned, implemented, and used.
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