August 18, 2005 | Read Time: 1 minute
A Funder’s Guide to Evaluation: Leveraging Evaluation to Improve Nonprofit Effectiveness
by Peter York
The era when nonprofit groups conducted evaluations of their work simply to show grant makers they were using resources wisely is long over, writes Peter York, vice president and director of evaluation at the TCC Group, a management firm that consults with charities. In this book, he demonstrates how a growing number of nonprofit organizations are using evaluations to strengthen their effectiveness and advance their missions.
To increase the ability of nonprofit groups to use evaluations as learning tools, Mr. York advocates “evaluative learning.” Through that approach, evaluations occur frequently and repeatedly and are designed and conducted in collaboration with grant makers.
Mr. York recommends seven steps for charities to take in adopting this approach, including educating board and staff members about the process, analyzing existing evaluation efforts, and choosing among different assessment approaches based on available resources. The book also includes worksheets and other tools to help groups use the evaluative learning approach.
Publisher: Fieldstone Alliance, 60 Plato Boulevard East, Suite 150, St. Paul, Minn. 55107; (800) 274-6024; http://www.fieldstonealliance.org; 139 pages; $41.95; ISBN 0-940069-48-2.
