By Marion Conway on February 3, 2012
I write and present about how small nonprofits should use social media. I am usually writing about it from the standpoint of what a nonprofit should do. This is about what Board Members should do.
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By Priya Small on January 23, 2012
One of my childhood memories is of my fifth grade English teacher posing this question to us as she analyzed a piece of classical literature: does the means justify the ends? She qualified her question with, “I know you are too young to understand this, but one day you will.” I wonder how many of [...]
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By Marion Conway on January 13, 2012
This year I’d say the tone is clearly “Be the best you can be.” It is upbeat and forward looking – very encouraging. Every year I am amazed by the breadth of the wisdom offered from the philosophical to the down to earth practical. And this year, the ideas seem to have a certain punch and bounce that makes you want to connect with them.
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By Priya Small on January 8, 2012
Program evaluations are “individual systematic studies conducted periodically or on an ad hoc basis to assess how well a program is working1.” What was your reaction to this definition? Has the prospect of undertaking a “research study” ever deterred you for conducting a program evaluation? Good news! Did you know that program evaluation is not [...]
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By Priya Small on December 24, 2011
Previously we covered part 1 of this post. Step 4: “Be the Early Bird…”– Plan Evaluation Early The best time to plan an evaluation is before program implementation has begun. Plan evaluation during the program planning stage. This helps reduce back-tracking and helps to create a culture of evaluation more naturally. This also prevents having [...]
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By Priya Small on December 10, 2011
Now that you: realize a few of the benefits of program evaluation (see “How to Maximize Funding by Tapping into Hidden Potential: Program Evaluation”) and have begun to address any fears you may have about program evaluation (see “How to Address Fears about Program Evaluation”) let us move on to the next step. In this [...]
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By Marion Conway on December 5, 2011
This post is a Best of the Best. It has my favorite recommendations from lists of recommended books for “Nonprofit Folk” over the last three years. A thoughtful book can be the perfect holiday gift so ….. Enjoy – and at the end I’ll provide links to all of the prior lists.
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By Priya Small on November 29, 2011
Nervous about Evaluation? In many ways a program evaluation can be like a well-child doctor’s appointment. Observations are made, evidence collected and advice dispensed to the caregivers. Someone I know, despite being a devoted mother, dreaded well-child doctor’s appointments for her firstborn. The visits made her nervous. Let us pause to consider why check-ups made [...]
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By Priya Small on November 21, 2011
Is Your Program “Stuck” Due to Inadequate Funding? Consider Program Evaluation Recently our car would not start. You guessed it– it was the battery. A mechanically-inclined friend made a casual comment about the worth of car batteries, which can provide insight into maximizing funding for your programs. The friend said something to the effect of, [...]
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By Marion Conway on October 31, 2011
The survey completed by the Nonprofit Research Collaborative is quite extensive and has lots of insight from nonprofits about what is working in their fundraising efforts. This article shares some of the highlights from that report about what nonprofits see is working for them. And, as always, it comes with my commentary. So where to look if you are in a Jerry Maguire mood for someone to “Show Me the Money.” Let’s see what 813 charities who participated in this survey had to say.
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Marion is a popular facilitator of workshops and Board retreats. Her expertise includes strategic planning, board development, governance and harnessing the power of technology. [Read more ...]
Priya Small has extensive experience in collaborative evaluation planning, instrument design, data collection, and grant writing and facilitation.