January 25, 2016 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Program evaluations are intended to help nonprofits improve their results and processes and to help foundations know if their grants have been well spent. But those evaluations don’t always tell either group what it needs to know.
Measuring school attendance or meals served may not be the best indicators of whether a program is working. More useful data would tell if students’ grades are improving or if people are healthier because they’re eating better.
“We need to get beyond just the quick and easy and objective things,” says Sammy Politziner, a co-founder at Arbor Brothers, which funds organizations fighting poverty in the New York City and surrounding areas.
In two new videos produced by Exponent Philanthropy — the first in a new monthly series — Mr. Politziner and other grant makers and the organizations they support share opinions and stories about the many forms evaluations can take as well as their advice for reporting and measuring the intangible, such as program participants’ increased hope, confidence, or connection to their community.
Evaluation should be used as a tool for learning as opposed to “merely creating reports that sit unread in filing cabinets,” says Meghan Duffy, associate vice president of programs at Grantmakers for Effective Organizations.
That means having honest conversations about the more qualitative measures of success and recognizing that completing more traditional, rigid forms of evaluations might not be realistic for grantees that can’t afford the technology required to complete an evaluation or those with no one on staff who speaks English.
“Strong relationships based on trust enable grantees to be honest about their struggles and therefore result in more meaningful shared learning,” says Ms. Duffy.
See this video on the Philanthropy Lessons website.
Read our tool kit on the basics of measuring programs which includes resources like a template for mapping results, a primer on the two main types of evaluations, and a case study on how one nonprofit improved their evaluations process.
This is the first installment in a monthly video series in partnership with Exponent Philanthropy, previously known as the Association of Small Foundations.
