This week-end I found myself navigating the underground tunnel system of a local university on my way to the library.  Although this was not my first time, it got me thinking of others.  If not for the signs, newer navigators would have either run into dead-ends or ended up walking in circles.   Evaluations can also go around in circles or run into dead-ends.  In this post I aim to whet your appetite for the evaluator’s version of signs and guideposts:  evaluation models or frameworks.

Some think of them as evaluation road maps or mental models.  Usually such models are based on years of experience and/or research.  Following such models will help to spare you costly mistakes.

Today I will briefly introduce the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Framework for Evaluation. A thorough presentation is beyond the scope of my post, so please review the references I have included for future review and study.

A Framework for Evaluation.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Office of the Associate Director for Program (OADPG)

Step 1:  Engage stakeholders

Stakeholders include everyone linked to or benefiting from your program:  for e.g. participants, program staff, national staff, collaborators, funders and even evaluators.  Identify a small number of key stakeholders and involve them as much as possible throughout the lifespan of the evaluation.  Such involvement is crucial since it ensures that stakeholders, especially those belonging to vulnerable populations, are adequately represented.  A range of active and passive involvement strategies may include:

• forming an evaluation committee
• promoting engagement via
  • face to face meetings
  • capacity building activities
  • teleconferences
  • e-mail or discussion groups
  • simple interviews or surveys of stakeholders
  • letters and newsletters to inform them of evaluation activities and key decisions

The type of involvement strategy you choose should be custom-tailored to the specific needs of your particular program and stakeholders.  Pay close attention to organizational climate and of course, timing!

Step 2:  Describe the Program

Describing the program can be much harder than it deceptively seems!  Various stakeholders may have differing ideas of what the program entails or should entail.  Even an individual stakeholder’s perspectives can evolve over time. An iterative process is important to get everyone on the same page and to determine whether everyone’s intentions for the program reflect the actual program goals.

Once program goals are clarified, work backwards to develop a logic model, which is a flow chart demonstrating relationships between program components and the outcomes you are seeking.

Step 3:  Focus the Evaluation Design

Focused evaluations are the most useful.  Prioritize and focus your evaluation questions in collaboration with the small number of key stakeholders.   Consider how to best serve their needs and how to prioritize the competing needs of various stakeholders. Then choose the most appropriate evaluation methods that will provide you with the best answers to those evaluation questions.  Seek to balance:

• efficiency and practicality with
• the quality and type of data and the level of accuracy needed.



To be Continued…

Sources/Further References:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Office of the Associate Director for Program (OADPG).  (2011) A Framework for Evaluation.  Retrieved February 6, 2012. From www.cdc.gov/eval/framework/index.htm A reliable, easy to navigate website hosted by the CDC.

Milstein, B., Wetterhall, S. and the CDC Evaluation Working Group. (2012)  A Framework for Program Evaluation: A Gateway to Tools.  The Community Toolbox. J. Nagy & S. B. Fawcett (Eds.). Retrieved February 6, 2012. From http://ctb.ku.edu/en/tablecontents/sub_section_main_1338.aspx The Community Tool Box is an online tutorial that is designed especially for community-based nonprofits and hosted by the University of Kansas.

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Priya Small has extensive experience in collaborative evaluation planning, instrument design, data collection, grant writing and facilitation.  Contact her at priyasusansmall@gmail.com.  Visit her website athttp://www.priyasmall.wordpress.com.  See her profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/priyasmall/

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.  Almost every small nonprofit I work with has an  underutilized web presence.  Some have made an investment which is big for them in a new website and are disappointed that the website does not generate much in the way of online donations.  I frequently wince when I see these websites and some of the fundamental  mistakes that have been made. 

But board members can do a great deal to boost the overall web presence of their nonprofit.  Today, in addition to a website, having a vibrant social media presence is an important tool in any nonprofit’s toolbox.  It is a key way to build relationships with existing supporters and to find new ones.

Having a website is not like “If we build it, they will come.”  They won’t – that only happens in the movies.  You have to DRIVE traffic to your website.  And the best way to do that is with a vibrant social media presence.

First let’s look at what a nonprofit should ideally be doing with its overall web presence:

• Engage existing supporters
• Find potential new friends (donors, volunteers, etc)
• Find volunteers
• Find people who are interested in attending events – and maybe sell tickets
• Identify potential Board Members
• Build better relationships with all of the above people
• Get donations

The last one – get donations – comes later.   First you have to do all the other things.  Board members can help with some of or all of these goals by just incorporating their nonprofit into what they already do with social media.  Different board members will use different aspects of social media and they can all contribute in their own way.  I am not talking about asking your friends to give money online.  If you feel comfortable doing that, by all means, go ahead. But that is not what I am suggesting here.  I am talking about how you can be an ambassador online just by tweaking – a very little bit – what you already do.  Let’s look at the possibilities.

Facebook

My article,  Demonstrating Board Leadership with Facebook  is getting record readership, and I am getting lots of feedback about sharing it with other Board members. I go into detail with these items in that article but here are the highlights for board members on Facebook:

1. Like the organization’s page
2. Like comments and comment on the page’s posts
3. Initiate posts on the organization’s wall.
4. Initiate posts on your own wall.
5. Post pictures

LinkedIn

LinkedIn has become an important resource for nonprofits.  You can use LinkedIn to give positive exposure to you and to your nonprofit. Here are a few ways:

1.      Update your profile

LinkedIn has a new category in its profile – Volunteer Experience & Causes.  You can enhance your profile and gives some exposure to your organization by updating your profile to include your Board Service.  You can see mine as an example.

Marion’s LinkedIn Profile

 2.      Donor and Board Member Prospecting

Use the search and advanced search to find people who have particular professions, went to your university and more to find people you know who may be a good match.  This takes a little time but you can do it whenever you have free time and you just might find some good prospects to invite to be a Board member or to invite to an event.

 3.      Update your Status

You can update your status to show activities you are involved with at your nonprofit – always include a link to their website.  Updating your status can serve to keep both your name and your nonprofit’s name in the sight of your business friends.  It is a win-win situation.  Short, but effective.  And if you have linked your LinkedIn and twitter accounts, you can just click to have this update appear automatically in twitter also.  Use this to promote events, seek new Board members, etc.

 Twitter

I love twitter and I am active on it.  I enjoy being part of an active nonprofit online community and learn about incredible opportunities, great resources and events all the time on twitter.  It has been wonderful to finally meet people in person at conferences or at a workshop who I have only known on twitter.  But I don’t see twitter as being very useful for the purpose of a Board Member using it to build relationships for a nonprofit.  If you are on twitter, be sure to mention your nonprofit sometimes especially if they are on twitter too.

There are two exceptions to this is that twitter is wonderful for  - advocacy and promoting events.  If advocacy is a part of what your nonprofit does, Board Members who are on twitter should definitely be using their 140 characters for advocacy.  Make sure you use relevant hastags (#) and you will see lots of new followers.

If your nonprofit is having an event and you have local followers promote the event and link to the nonprofit’s website – not the homepage but the event information page.  Be thoughtful in using hashtags so that more people than just your followers may see the tweets.

 Blogs

Do you read blogs related to the work of your nonprofit.  Be sure to leave comments and mention your organization in the comments when appropriate.

 Websites

Do you have a website – personal or small business.  Include your board membership in your biography and have a link to it in the bio.  If appropriate have a small “ad” for events that your nonprofit is having on your website.

Pinterest

Pinterest is new and you may not of heard of it, but it is very fast growing.  It is a new social media site that is perfect for people who like visuals and it is very simple and easy to use.  It is essentially a bunch of online bulletin boards.  Once you have a pinterest account – which you can associate with your facebook account, you can easily “pin” visuals on a board.  You can have lots of Boards and it is best to have all the visuals on that board be about a common topic.  This is the link to one of my favorites – nonprofit infographics by Beth Kanter:  http://pinterest.com/kanter/nonprofit-infographics/.  If you have a pinterest account, create some Boards with visuals about your nonprofit.  Cover an event or a program.  Use a brief description.  And then…post an invitation to see your Board on facebook, twitter LinkedIn, etc.  You get the idea – have it go viral.  I think that Pinterest may take off and become very popular so I am including it in this list of social media things to do.

I hope this article has given you something to think about.  These are all easy things to do but they can have a big impact if enough people take just a few steps.  And I promise it won’t seem like work at all, once you dive in, you’ll enjoy it.

Process Evaluations

These evaluate the program activities and methods a program uses to achieve its outcomes.  These activities should be directly linked to the intermediary and ultimate outcomes that your program will target. Examples of measures and evaluation questions include:

• number and demographics of participants served,
• number of activities such as number of prevention workshops conducted
• Were activities really implemented as planned?  How closely was curriculum followed, etc.

Impact Evaluations

These measure intermediary “outcomes” such as changes in knowledge, attitudes and behaviors that specifically link to the ultimate outcomes your program will target.  In order to be able to capture these changes, make sure to measure these items before (pre-test or baseline data) and after (post-test) your intervention.  For example, a heart disease prevention program may provide workshops targeting intermediary outcomes such as changes in knowledge, attitudes and behaviors related to nutrition and exercise.  We can view these intermediate outcomes as a “go-between” that connects the procedures with the outcomes.  A quick note: theory-driven and research-based program activities and measures are much more likely to actually produce/demonstrate the outcomes a program is seeking.

Outcome Evaluations

These evaluate changes in the ultimate outcomes your program is targeting.  Again, remember to collect this data before and after your intervention.  In our heart disease prevention program, we might measure changes in numbers of  coronary events such as heart attacks, etc.  In general, this level of outcomes can be harder to measure, especially in cases where stigma or shame is associated with the outcome you are measuring.

Process Evaluation ←→Impact Evaluation ←→ Outcome Evaluation

Thoughts

In program evaluation, both the means and the ends are equally critical.  Let us consider the importance of process evaluations since it is so easy to overlook the means.  The process indeed determines the outcome.  In a well-designed program, process measures link closely to intermediary outcomes, which in turn link closely to final outcomes.  If the process evaluation reveals shortages, that is, if the program has not really been implemented as planned, the final outcomes may suffer.   A good process evaluation provides an adequate program description over the course of the evaluation, which is so important!  A program description portrays what the program is essentially and really all about.  This is not that easy to accomplish but is worth the effort. What the program essentially is in its core will determine the outcomes it produces.

Different programmatic contexts call for different evaluations.  It is beyond the scope of this post to provide an exhaustive list of the different types of evaluations.  Here are a couple resources however:

http://www.cdc.gov/NCIPC/pub-res/dypw/03_stages.htm

Program Evaluation, Third Edition: Forms and Approaches (2006) by John M. Owen.

Question:

Evaluators, if forced to choose just two out of these 3 options, which would you rank as more important within your particular program context and why?

Announcement:

Who: The Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) at the University of Minnesota is offering

What: a two-day “Introduction to Program Evaluation” workshop by Stacey Stockdill, within its Spring Conference: Evaluation in a Complex World: Changing Expectations, Changing Realities

When:  Monday, March 26-Tuesday, March 27, 2012.

Where: University of Minnesota – Saint Paul Campus, Falcon Heights, MN 55113

Scholarships may be available for the Introduction to Program Evaluation workshop.  Scholarship application deadline:  February 24, 2012.

For more information: http://www.cura.umn.edu/news/scholarships-available-two-day-introduction-program-evaluation-workshop

Contact Person: William Craig

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Priya Small has extensive experience in collaborative evaluation planning, instrument design, data collection, grant writing and facilitation.  Contact her at priyasusansmall@gmail.com.  Visit her website athttp://www.priyasmall.wordpress.com.  See her profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/priyasmall/

 This blog post is a companion piece to the resolutions post which has been very popular.   It is not intended to be a list of goals that you can cut and paste into your 2012 objectives.  Rather, it provides some guiding principles and things to think about when you are forming your specific goals for 2012.  At Marion Conway-Nonprofit Consultant  you can see the exact words of wisdom offered by each contributor.  The nonprofit expert contributors this year are Anne Ackerson, Susan Detweiler,  Jay Frost, Pamela Grow, Linda Lysakowski, Marc Pitman and Terrie Temkin.  You can visit their blog or website by clicking on their name.  I’ve organized the ideas into categories:

Fundraising/Development

ASK! – in capital and bold letters – often, and lots of ways – both traditional and using Social Media.  Don’t be shy about asking.

Get to know and connect with your donors in a personal way in all phases from cultivation through thank yous.

Get smarter – Try new approaches – Seek out training in marketing not just fundraising

Engage the CEO and Board in all phases

Think of the donor in terms of long term value and cultivate for the long term

Mission, Operations, Evaluation, Creativity, Boards

Understand and communicate your value proposition

Take evaluation seriously

Spend more time on “play” – it develops creativity – very much needed in the nonprofit sector

Center your policy, operations and decisions on your mission.

Have the Right State of Mind – From My Own 2012 Resolutions

I, of course, added my own two cents to the list which is simply to eliminate some of the “busyness” that takes so much time, and adds so little value to my life.   This busyness has been cluttering my brain and keeping me from dealing with issues in depth.  In 2012 I plan to fight back the sound bite life and give the “blue chips” more “in depth” attention.

I am moving into a new more spacious office space courtesy of my adult son moving into his own apartment. (Yeah!!!)  I am getting rid of stuff and getting more organized in my new space.  There is a place to continue to have candles lit when I am in a pensive mood or fresh flowers when I need to wake my spirits.  My husband, Hugh, did a scale floor plan with pieces for the furniture and in the big empty space in the middle he had a piece that said “Zach’s play area.”  Zach is my two and a half year old grandson and he does like to visit Grandma in her office.   (You can also read about my escapades as a grandmother at The Grandma Chronicles).  So I am looking forward to the type of year Anne talks about with “real meat on the value bones” and I plan to take Terrie’s advice and “add more play to my work.”

I hope you have found these ideas to be food for thought as you set your own goals for 2012.  Please share in the comments any additional thoughts or feedback on these ideas.

Marion

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 the same as research and usually does not need to be as complicated?

In fact, evaluation is a process in which we all unconsciously engage to some degree or another on a daily, informal basis.  How do you choose a pair of boots? Unconsciously you might consider criteria such as looks, how well the boots fit, how comfortable they are, and how appropriate they are for their particular use (walking long distances, navigating icy driveways, etc.).

Though we use the same techniques in evaluation and research and though both methods are equally systematic and rigorous (“exhaustive, thorough and accurate”²), here a few differences between evaluation and research:

Program Evaluation Focuses on a Program vs. a Population

Research aims to produce new knowledge within a field.  Ideally, researchers design studies to be able to generalize findings to the whole population–every single individual within the group being studied.  Evaluation only focuses on the particular program at hand. Evaluations may face added resource and time constraints.

Program Evaluation Improves vs. Proves

Daniel L. Stufflebeam, Ph.D., a noted evaluator, captured it succinctly:  “The purpose of evaluation is to improve, not prove³.” In other words, research strives to establish that a particular factor caused a particular effect.  For example, smoking causes lung cancer.  The requirements to establish causation are very high. The goal of evaluation, however, is to help improve a particular program.  In order to improve a program, program evaluations get down-to-earth.  They examine all the pieces required for successful program outcomes, including the practical inner workings of the program such as program activities.

Program Evaluation Determines Value vs. Being Value-free

Another prominent evaluator, Michael J. Scriven, Ph.D., notes that evaluation assigns value to a program while research seeks to be value-free⁴.  Researchers collect data, present results and then draw conclusions that expressly link to the empirical data.  Evaluators add extra steps.  They collect data, examine how the data lines up with previously-determined standards (also known as criteria or benchmarks) and determine the worth of the program.  So while evaluators also make conclusions that must faithfully reflect the empirical data, they take the extra steps of comparing the program data to performance benchmarks and judging the value of the program.  While this may seem to cast evaluators in the role of judge we must remember that evaluations determine the value of programs so they can help improve them.

Program Evaluations ask “Is it working?” vs. “Did it work”

Tom Chapel, MA, MBA, Chief Evaluation Officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) differentiates between evaluation and research on the basis of when they occur in relation to time:

Researchers must stand back and wait for the experiment to play out.  To use the analogy of cultivating tomato plants, researchers ask, “How many tomatoes did we grow?” Evaluation, on the other hand, is a process unfolding “in real time.”  In addition to determining numbers of tomatoes, evaluators also inquire about related areas like, “how much watering and weeding is taking place?”  “Are there nematodes on the plants?” If evaluators realize that activities are insufficient, staff are free to adjust accordingly.⁵

To summarize, evaluation 1) focuses on programs vs. populations, 2) improves vs. proves, 3) determines value vs. stays value-free and 4) happens in real time.  In light of these 4 points, evaluations, when carried out properly, have great potential to be very relevant and useful for program-related decision-making.  How do you feel?

References:

1. U.S. Government Accountability Office.  (2005).  Performance Measurement and Evaluation.  Retrieved January 8, 2012 from http://www.gao.gov/special.pubs/gg98026.pdf
2. Definition of “rigorous.”  Retrieved January 8, 2012 from google.com
3. Stufflebeam, D.L.  (2007).  CIPP Evaluation Model Checklist.  Retrieved January 8, 2012 from http://www.wmich.edu/evalctr/archive_checklists/cippchecklist_mar07.pdf on January 8, 2012
4. Coffman, J.  (2003).  Ask the Expert: Michael Scriven on the Differences Between Evaluation and Social Science Research.  The Evaluation Exchange, 9(4).  Retrieved January 8, 2012 from http://www.hfrp.org/evaluation/the-evaluation-exchange/issue-archive/reflecting-on-the-past-and-future-of-evaluation/michael-scriven-on-the-differences-between-evaluation-and-social-science-research
5. Chapel, T.J.  (2011).  American Evaluation Association Coffee Break Webinar: 5 Hints to Make Your Logic Models Worth the Time and Effort.  Attended online on January 5, 2012

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Priya Small has extensive experience in collaborative evaluation planning, instrument design, data collection, grant writing and facilitation.  Contact her at priyasusansmall@gmail.com.  Visit her website at http://www.priyasmall.wordpress.com.  See her profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/priyasmall/

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 to come in with dramatic changes later.  People tend to resist change, and late changes can create even more resistance to evaluation.  Dealing with such resistance can be likened to trying to turn a huge ship whose course has already been set.  It can be a difficult task indeed, but if this where your program is at, it is still worth the effort!

Step 5: “Get Everyone Involved”—Engage Stakeholders

And now for what is the most critical point: engage all stakeholders throughout the evaluation process. A stakeholder is anyone who has an interest in your program—national staff, administrators, board members, partners, program implementers, volunteers, program participants, etc. Begin by asking away for their input.  Do your best to learn from them.  If they see no agenda being pushed and that everyone is committed to learning from one another other, they may drop defensive mechanisms and openness may gradually follow.  Encourage open discussion of concerns.  Sometimes enlisting your worst critic, given a certain degree of mutual trust, can benefit your program.  Critics of evaluation can provide valuable, candid reality-checks.  Due to the variety of interests involved, however, conflict may arise.  People-skills such as conflict resolution are vital in your program’s evaluator.

While being careful not to push an agenda, constantly look for teachable moments.  A teachable moment, as you may know, is a natural window of opportunity that arises when the person might be more open to what you are trying to communicate.  During these teachable moments:

• share with them what others are doing based on your review of the literature
• help them think of evaluation more as a way to improve your program and less as a threat to the program
• help overcome their personal fears of negative evaluation results
• emphasize how they will benefit from the evaluation
• commit ahead of time to sharing evaluation results with all stakeholders in a readable format.  Negotiate these agreements ahead of time with administrators.  Sharing results can motivate some of your stakeholders to support evaluation efforts.
• Promote trust among evaluation participants by emphasizing ethical treatment of evaluation participants– protecting their rights, confidentiality, doing no harm, etc.

Again, the action steps are:

1)      Teach the language of evaluation

2)      Mentor and role-model

3)      Collaborate with like-minded professionals

4)      Plan evaluation early

5)      Engage stakeholders

What challenges have you faced with getting others on-board with evaluation efforts?

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Priya Small has extensive experience in collaborative evaluation planning, instrument design, data collection, grant writing and facilitation.  Contact her at priyasusansmall@gmail.com.  See her profile athttp://www.linkedin.com/in/priyasmall/

• 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 post we will focus on addressing others’ fears about program evaluation.  These “others” may include administrators, partners, program staff and participants.  As you know, such fears can be harder to address, and there is no cure-all.  But consider using a suggestion or two from this list on ways to create a culture of evaluation. 

Vince Hyman, former publishing director of Fieldstone Alliance discusses the concept of evaluation culture in his article “Create a Culture of Evaluation.”   The following is my commentary which applies this concept to my experiences of culture and program evaluation.  I am a product of multiple cultures, having picked up various aspects of cultures at different stages in my life.  In my experience, culture was most effortlessly instilled in earlier stages of life but it continues to be a gradual life-long process.  Some of the aspects that differentiate cultures are language, practices and ways of thinking.  Let us apply this to evaluation by considering the following action steps that can help develop a culture of evaluation. 

Step 1: “Talk the Talk”—Teach the Language of Evaluation

Familiarize yourself with or continue learning the language of evaluation by reading evaluation handbooks and blogs from credible sources.  If you are too busy, aim for at least 5-10 minutes or a page a day.  Then speak and patiently teach the language of evaluation, promoting the benefits of evaluation whenever possible.  Take time to consider all those who may be resistant to evaluation: explain and define any unfamiliar evaluation-related terms, building on previous concepts and ideas that are more familiar to them. 

Step 2: “Walk the Walk”—Mentor and Role-model

Mentor junior program staff.  Role-model sound evaluation practices and explain evaluation logic or evaluation-related ways of thinking.  This will help them in turn to adopt and promote the culture of program evaluation which will help foster sustained evaluation efforts.  (I will be outlining evaluation models that promote sound evaluation practices soon).  Staff and administrators’ nightmarish experiences with evaluation could very likely have been a result of poor evaluation practices. 

Step 3: “Birds of a Feather”–Collaborate with Like-minded Individuals and Organizations

Ever notice how in general people of similar sub-cultures (whether based on ethnicity or shared values) tend to gravitate toward each other?  An existing community helps to draw newcomers to the group as well. Do your best within reasonable limits to start by working with those who already possess an evaluation-related frame of mind.  For health-related programs, an option might to hire graduates of accredited community health education programs. This ensures a background in health program evaluation and increases the likelihood of shared evaluation-related goals and values.  Nurture such collaborations, for they can in turn help draw others to participate in the culture of evaluation. 

Have you experienced any challenges or successes with addressing others’ fears about evaluation?    

Stay tuned for an important point in Part 2! 

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Priya Small has extensive experience in collaborative evaluation planning, instrument design, data collection, grant writing and facilitation.  Contact her at priyasusansmall@gmail.com.  See her profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/priyasmall/

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.

Leadership, Management, Philosophy

The Future of Nonprofits: Innovate and Thrive in the Digital Age by David J. Neff and Randal C. Moss  was recommended by Amy Sample Ward.  This book is sure to give you a whole new outlook about how your organization can be successful in in a today’s  environment where communication and community engagement rule.

Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Decisions for Financial Viability
by Jeanne Bell, Jan Masaoka, and Steve Zimmerman. Linda Czipo gives it a rave review with these comments: “It helps guide organization managers through crucial analyses (fund raising profiles, program and organizational viability, etc.) in a very accessible manner.  Great blend of user-friendly prose, matrices, and diagrams to help organizations sift through the “tough questions.” Very useful.”

Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership) by Leslie Crutchfield was recommended by Holly Ross, William Hull and Paul Cwynar. Paul said, “It is an innovative guide to how great nonprofits achieve extraordinary social impact.”

You and Your Nonprofit: Practical Advice and Tips from the Charity Channel Professional Community
I am proud to be a contributor to this book featuring over 40 contributors with articles on a wide range of topics important to nonprofit professionals. It features practical advice and tips from the Charity Channel Nonprofit Professional Community. This is an excellent on the shelf resource for new and experienced nonprofit leaders alike.

Fundraising

50 Asks in 50 Weeks
by Amy Eisenstein – I had the privilege of hearing Amy deliver a workshop on this subject at the Charity Channel Summit in Saint Petersburg last year.  Amy gives great guidance for even a one person shop in choosing priorities and effectively completing 50 Asks in 50 Weeks. I walked away with a feeling that any development office could become more effective and focused by simply following Amy’s straightforward, no nonsense advice. Recommended by me.

Ask Without Fear!: A Simple Guide to Connecting Donors With What Matters to Them Most
by Marc A. Pitman. There are lots of books about fundraising but this one should top any list:

Nonprofit Technology, Social Media, Marketing 

The Networked Nonprofit: Connecting with Social Media to Drive Change
by Beth Kanter and Allison Fine – This book will for sure be on many wish lists. Nobody addresses this topic with such passion, knowledge and down to earth good advice as Beth and Allison. I had the pleasure of hearing Beth and Allison together at the NTC conference discuss this book.  My review – WOW!.

The Nonprofit Marketing Guide: High-Impact, Low-Cost Ways to Build Support for Your Good Cause
by Kivi Leroux Miller – This is the definitive resource for nonprofit marketing. It is a must have resource if you are interested in this topic. No one covers this topic better than Kivi.

Favorites for Children

One Hen – How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference
by Katie Smith Milway, illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes  This beautifully illustrated book inspired by true events tells the story of Kojo a small boy from Ghana who turns a small loan into a thriving farm for many and is able to return to school. I learned about this book when Steve Jennings, @zyOzyfounder tweeted the link to his reading list of poverty books

Three Cups by Mark St. Germain and illustrated by April Willy tells of life lessons that come from learning how to save, spend and give our money. This inexpensive but richly illustrated book is an excellent place to start developing philanthropy values in children. My thanks to Tony Townsley for this recommendation.

Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters by Barack Obama
I reviewed this book featuring stories about American heroes and beautiful illustrations at my other blog – The Grandma Chronicles. This book is one of those that should be on every child’s bookshelf.

Read the full lists of reviews:

Need a Holiday Gift for Someone in the Nonprofit Community – A Curated List of Books

Nonprofit Books That Make Great Holiday Gifts 

 Books to Add to Your Reading List in 2010 – The Well Known and a Few Discoveries

 You and Your Nonprofit – Just Published! 

 Of  Thee I Sing – A Letter to my Daughters by Barack Obama

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 this new mother nervous.  She did her very best with all the resources available to her; yet being a perfectionist, she worried about hearing of areas that needed improvement.   

How to Get the Most Use out of Program Evaluations

The caregiver’s ability to let go of these negative emotions and be truly open to the practitioner’s advice can determine how useful that visit was.  But so many times, it is easier to listen to our own feelings than it is to receive professional advice—advice that can be hard to swallow (no pun intended).  And although that gut feeling can prove important in certain situations, there is great value in basing decisions on the objective, hard evidence that a program evaluation generates.  Easier said than done! Despite your hard work and efforts, have you or your program’s “caregivers” ever felt somewhat apprehensive about the thought of a program evaluation?    Here are some basic ways to address fear of evaluation.

How to Deal with Fears about Program Evaluation:

Focus on the Positive: 

A breakthrough for the perfectionistic mother came from a friend’s advice.  The friend told her to keep telling the pediatrician all the positive things that the mother had been doing to promote the child’s health.

When the topic of program evaluation was broached with some tension in a room full of facilitators, an experienced manager said something to the effect of, “Evaluations show us areas of improvement so we can provide the best service.  Yet they also provide us opportunities to recognize you for your achievements!” 

Shelve the Criticism: 

An expert who taught a grant writing workshop for university staff once shared a secret with her participants.  My subsequent experiences have also confirmed the truth behind this advice:  Yes, listening to criticism about something that is very near and dear to your heart can be difficult.  But tuck the criticism away in your drawer for a day or two.  Then come back to it with a fresh mind. 

Focus on the Remedy

It is easy to remain discouraged about a program that seems hopeless.  But concentrate on small, concrete and practical steps you can take day by day to improve a program component in much need of some TLC (tender, loving care).  Be a wise consumer—make these practical recommendations one of the deliverables expected of your evaluator. 

Think Prevention!

Think of Program Evaluation as a “check-up” for your program.  An evaluation can help identify not only problems with effectiveness of programs but also implementation-related issues that can ruin outcomes.  Evaluations can identify these situations ahead of time and help prevent a worse and more complicated problem from brewing!  A stitch in time indeed saves nine! 

How to be Wise about Program Evaluation

Our fearlessness about program evaluations must be tempered with a dose of wise caution:

• Educate yourself on program evaluation as much as possible so that you can be a wise consumer or implementer of evaluations.
• If you are not conducting a DIY (Do It Yourself) evaluation, get to know your evaluator and his/her qualifications; check references.  Professional ethics play a critical part in all the functions that an evaluator carries out. 

As you already know, experience begets wisdom.  And yet, although our individual experiences can make us wise, individuals still have blind spots.  There is a great degree of wisdom in our collective experiences:

• Partner with peers or associates to conduct program evaluations. 
• Program Evaluations may present new challenges, depending on the specific situation.  But there may be ways to deal with this on a case by case basis, in an ethical yet responsible manner.  Be prepared to consult with others who are trained and experienced in program evaluation.

Did you find this post helpful?  Do you have any concerns about program evaluation?    

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Priya Small has extensive experience in collaborative evaluation planning, instrument design, data collection, and grant writing and facilitation.  Contact her at priyasusansmall@gmail.com.  See her profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/priyasmall/

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, “Batteries have all that potential energy stored up in them. They have all that energy to get your car going. But once you get your car started, you technically don’t really need that battery anymore. You could drive around for hours without a battery.”  He does not recommend practicing this, however.  But the point was made. There is an incredible amount of energy hidden in a car battery just waiting to be converted.  And I never appreciated that powerhouse of energy until we got stuck.  Is your program “stuck” due to inadequate funding?

Evaluating a program may be the tool you need to unlock the hidden potential “stored up” in your program.  What is the first thought that comes to mind when you think of evaluation?  A thick, dusty binder full of barely comprehensible information that no one ever uses?  The good news is that evaluation standards have changed.  One of the benchmarks that characterizes a good evaluation is utility.  A successful evaluation is useful, practical and down-to-earth.

How Program Evaluation Can Help

It is a grim reality that funding opportunities have dwindled in the present economic climate.  In their book “The Only Grant-writing Book You’ll Ever Need,” grant writing experts Ellen Karsh and Arlen Sue Fox note, however, that funding opportunities still exist but the competition is more intense.  Applicants must prove that they are “high-functioning organizations” capable of effectively producing the outcomes that funders expect.     Program evaluations help to move your organization towards that goal.  Or if you are already high-functioning, a program evaluation can help prove your capabilities.

Here are 4 ways that evaluations can help you do so: 1) Evaluations monitor that activities are conducted as planned   2) Evaluations establish program logic- that is, how activities work together to produce desired outcomes.  3) Evaluations identify effective and healthy program components– those that are able to produce the desired outcomes.  4) Evaluations reveal ways to heal ailing components.  Putting one or more of these evaluation functions to good use helps demonstrate that your program is organized and effective in producing specified outcomes.

Even if you decide not to focus on grant applications, the useful evidence that program evaluations yield can help you win the support of private donors. Evaluation data can help set your organization apart and get the attention of donors.  It can help convince them that your program will give them the most for their money.

Evaluations can help you tap into your program’s hidden potential by generating practical information that can powerfully launch your program onward.

What has your experience been?  What do you like/dislike/loathe about program evaluations? What concerns do you have about them?

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Priya Small has extensive experience in collaborative evaluation planning, instrument design, data collection, and grant writing and facilitation.  Contact her at priyasusansmall@gmail.com.  See her profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/priyasmall/