Evaluation

Those who take part in service to nonprofit organizations sometimes must offer programs that they inherited or were developed quickly due to an urgent need. As the years go by and the gift revenue flattens, new emphasis is placed on increasing major gift work and grant writing. But that may be just propping up a weak reed.

The organization would be better served with an evaluation to examine program quality or “what’s so”, and the program’s value or “so what.” A well-planned evaluation is exponentially more valuable than your intuition.

I’ve conducted several feasibility studies to determine if an organization is ready for a capital campaign, and if so under what circumstances. Recently, I attended a presentation on evaluation methodology by Allison Prieur, www.dareic.com. I realize now the typical feasibility study does not look at all the elements that impact success.

We want to know the nature of change for the program participants, how they benefited compared to what we believe is beneficial, and if what we identify as beneficial is fully inclusive.

The suggestion to evaluate programs may receive push back. Some board members are in it for the ribbon cutting and not much else. Others may want to defend their role in that which exists. But organizations that want to go further and be more effective see evaluation as quality management.

1. What changes are we trying to make?

2. What is the evidence that what we believe to be beneficial is occurring?

3. Engage others in the discussion and share the burden of analysis.

4. Make an action plan.

If you think your organization just needs new boilerplate language for grants, think again. Challenge the idea you might have that hiring a new major gift officer is the answer to increasing gift revenue. And a strategic plan is only good if it has an evaluation element to it. Along with improvement to mission delivery, you will have a convincing case for support. Then you can expect an increase in gift and grant revenue.