Program Evaluation

It is one of the most crucial items in a nonprofit’s toolkit for attracting donors and/or securing public contracts—especially those programs focused on transformative change—and this article from Nonprofit About.com is a good look at it.

An excerpt.

“Measuring the results of your nonprofit's programs is not easy, but it is crucial. Knowing how effective your programs are will guide your long-term planning, help you to correct course, and reassure your donors that your organization is worthy of support.

“New Philanthropy Capital, a consultant to philanthropists, is in the business of evaluating charities and making recommendations to their wealthy clients about where to invest their philanthropic gifts. Their advice to charities about measuring results include these tips:

• Stick with what you know. Don't make measurement any harder than it needs to be. Stick to what you are passionate about as an organization. Talk about impact that anyone can understand. You don't need to become abstract and theoretical.

• Think in terms of change. What does your organization seek to change in its community, people's lives, socio-economic conditions, health-care policy, the environment? Figure out the change you seek to bring, and then how to measure those changes. When you succeed in changing the status-quo, that is an outcome...the outcome you and your supporters want to see. Make sure you capture it.

• Keep it simple. Better to measure just one or two aspects of your program's results, that are at the center of what you do, than try to measure everything. You'll only spread your efforts too thinly and have less to show for it.