Sources of Information on ‘Outcome-Based Evaluation’ of Non-Profit Programs

BOOKS

Evaluation With Power: A New Approach to Organizational Effectiveness, Empowerment, and Excellence

By Sandra Trice Gray and Associates

Shows non-profit managers how to integrate evaluation procedures into all areas of their operation, including program design, personnel policies, infor mation systems, and volunteer programs and discusses evaluation methods that staff members, board members, and volunteers can use to assess their own performance.

Publisher: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 350 Sansome Street, San Francisco 94104; (800) 956-7739; fax (800) 605-2665; World-Wide Web http://www.josseybss.com; 178 pages; $27.95 plus $5.50 postage and handling; I.S.B.N. 0-7879-0913-0.

The Grantseeker’s Guide to Project Evaluation, Second EditionEdited by Jacqueline Ferguson

Shows charities how to evaluate the effectiveness of their programs in ways that will help foundations determine what efforts are worth supporting. Topics discussed include selecting a sampling method, collecting and analyzing data, and writing an evaluation report.

Publisher: Capitol Publications, 1101 King Street, Suite 444, Alexandria, Va. 22314-2968; (800) 655-5597; fax (800) 392-7886; World-Wide Web http://www.grantscape.com; 356 pages; $75 plus $6 postage and handling; I.S.B.N. 1-56925-097-9.

Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation

Edited by Joseph S. Wholey, Harry P. Hatry, and Kathryn E. Newcomer

Experts explain how to create an evaluation plan and how to collect and analyze data in low-cost ways. Discusses advanced assessment techniques and the pros and cons of various approaches to evaluation.

Publisher: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 350 Sansome Street, San Francisco 94104; (800) 956-7739; fax (800) 605-2665; World-Wide Web http://www.josseybass.com; 648 pages; $59.95 plus $7.50 postage and handling; I.S.B.N. 1-55542-657-3.

Measuring Program Outcomes: A Practical Approach

Shows managers how to identify what participants in human-services programs should be able to do at the end of the program, how to measure the effectiveness of the programs in reaching those goals, and how to use the information to improve services. Also discusses how to use evaluations to obtain new money for programs and garner press attention.

Publisher: United Way of America. Order from: Sales Service/America,3680 Wheeler Avenue, Alexandria, Va. 22304; (703) 212-6300 or (800) 772-0008; fax (800) 772-0008; 169 pages; $5 for non-profit organizations, $25 for others, plus $5 postage and handling. Outcome-Based Evaluation

By Robert L. Schalock

Discusses various evaluation techniques that are based on measuring program results, offers examples of how such evaluations are used, and defines key concepts. It also discusses current and future trends affecting program evaluation and offers a guide to additional readings, plus study questions to help readers reflect on the techniques and concepts discussed in the book.

Publisher: Plenum Press, Department TNC, 233 Spring Street, New York 10013-1578; (212) 620-8047; fax (212) 647-1898; World-Wide Web http://www.plenum.com, 236 pages; $39.50 plus $3.50 postage and handling; I.S.B.N. 0-306-45051-8.

Road Map: Guidelines for Evaluation and Dissemination

By Thomas E. Backer and Carol Kochhar

Provides examples of successful projects pitched to the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation, which focuses on youths with disabilities; analyzes what those grant recipients did right in outlining their plans for monitoring the project, measuring its success, and distributing the results of the evaluation.

Publisher: Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation, 1150 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 1020, Washington 20036; (202) 857-0031; fax (202) 857-0056; World-Wide Web http://www.meaf.org; 26 pages; free.

Using Performance Measurement to Improve Public and Nonprofit Programs

Edited by Kathryn E. Newcomer

This issue of New Directions for Evaluation (Number 75, Fall 1997) reviews the design and use of various performance-measurement tools in government and non-profit programs. It includes a discussion of best practices in performance measurement and gives examples of how such measurement is used in all levels of government and at different types of charities and other non-profit groups.

Publisher: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 350 Sansome Street, San Francisco 94104; (800) 956-7739; fax (800) 605-2665; World-Wide Web http://www.josseybass.com; 102 pages; $22 plus $5.50 postage and handling; I.S.B.N. 0-7879-9846-x.

WORLD-WIDE WEB SITES

Grantmakers Evaluation Network

Operated by the Grantmakers Evaluation Network, an organization of grant makers that promotes evaluation in the non-profit world, this Web site includes a bibliography of evaluation resources and back issues of the group’s newsletter.

To get there: http://hogg1.lac.utexas.edu/gen

Harvard Family Research Project: The Evaluation Exchange

A publication of the Harvard Family Research Project in Cambridge, Mass., which conducts research on programs and public policies that affect children and families, The Evaluation Exchange is a quarterly newsletter that discusses how small non-profit organizations can best measure whether their programs have made a difference. The newsletter also includes links to World-Wide Web sites that provide information on evaluation.

To get there: http://hugse1.harvard.edu/hfrp/eval

InnoNet Non-Profit Toolbox

Created by Innovation Network, a non-profit consulting organization in Washington that helps charities plan and evaluate programs, this Web site offers interactive work sheets that help non-profit staff members develop an evaluation plan for their programs. The site plans to post sample evaluation tools, such as surveys and questions that can be downloaded for focus groups, as well as links to other Internet resources on evaluation.

To get there: http://www.inetwork.org

United Way of America: Resource Network on Outcome Measurement

Developed by the United Way of America in Alexandria, Va., this Web site offers excerpts from Measuring Program Outcomes: A Practical Approach, a book published by the United Way of America that shows non-profit organizations how to measure the effectiveness of their programs. The Web site also includes other information, such as United Way reports and newsletters on evaluation, and provides links to other Internet resources that provide information about evaluation.

To get there: http://www.unitedway.org/outcomes