Nonprofit organizations often hit a catch-22—they need evaluation to get grant funding, but need grants to fund an evaluation. So herein lies the question: how can a nonprofit organization move past this to get their evaluation practice up and running? We recently tackled this with a couple small but growing organizations, and wanted to share what we have learned.

Identify your point person

When a job falls on everyone equally, priorities tend to fall through the cracks. Having one person lead the effort, even if it’s only a few hours a month, can ensure that strides are made towards your organization’s evaluation. However, even if only one person is assigned as the leader of this effort, it should still be a group effort that everyone ideally participates in and is enthusiastic about. This can help your organization create a “culture of evaluation.”

Build it into your budget

A common pitfall is not planning for evaluation early. This can help prevent the catch-22 mentioned at the start. Evaluation does not always need to be a big lift with a large budget. Setting aside some funds for it in the beginning or including evaluation as a line item in every grant application can contribute to that “culture of evaluation” from the get-go, and create space and resources for evaluation practices early on.

Begin with what you have

What data have you already been collecting? This can be as simple as current intake forms, attendance records, case notes, or any previous surveys collected. Many organizations already sit on a wealth of data and don’t even know it. Before diving into developing new data collection tools, or even trying to think of evaluation processes, take some time to familiarize yourself with the historical data that your organization already has and think of how to incorporate it in your evaluation.

Photo by Tanja Tepavac on Unsplash

Build a Theory of Change

A Theory of Change is the organization’s “theory” or story of how it will make change in the world. A theory explains the group’s beliefs about how change will unfold. This serves as the basis for your organization’s evaluation—it informs your data collection tools, outputs, outcomes, and more.

In addition, it keeps your evaluation on track by serving as a point of reference as your evaluation practice is further developed. Often organizations want to keep adding and adding to the data they collect and the outcomes they measure. A Theory of Change can help keep this from getting out of hand and make sure everyone is on the same page.

Set learning goals

Learning goals are what organizations are hoping to learn from their evaluation. A common trap is trying to measure every outcome and output all at once. This can quickly lead to data overwhelm and makes it difficult to analyze the information that has been collected. Instead, start by asking “what are the few most important questions we can answer with our data, and how will answering them help us?” By picking three to five questions to answer through evaluation, organizations can keep their evaluation efforts targeted and ensure that the outcomes measured are things your organization can realistically take action on. Evaluation is not meant to just be a checklist for funders—it truly is valuable for organizations to gauge where they are and what they need to do to get to where they want to be.

Keep it simple

After identifying learning goals and analyzing historical data, you can determine what might be the simplest way to collect new information to answer the most important evaluation questions. This could be as easy as adding a few questions to an existing form, introducing a short survey, or interviewing 6-10 program participants on a topic. Simpler approaches make it easier for people to engage in something new. For example, a 10-question survey often gets more responses than a 30-question survey; a 20-minute interview is easier to coordinate than a 90-minute structured focus group. Remember that by intentionally sampling—thoughtfully selecting participants to receive input from—we can learn something about a group of people without needing to hear from every single individual. 

Consider external support

Finally, consider bringing in an external firm that specializes in evaluation. This can be particularly helpful when a funder requires external evaluation. However, even without this requirement, having a third party conduct your evaluation can ensure that people can share honest feedback, and the evaluation gets done despite everything else going on.

If the suggestions above seem intimidating or out-of-reach, we can help. Evaluation firms can be the final puzzle piece for your evaluation practice, and can take the lead on developing a Theory of Change, analyzing existing data, and more. Want to discuss getting your evaluation started? Contact us here.

Co-Authored by Julia Magalhaes