Learning As We Go
THE CONSERVATION COMPANY
Serving organizations that serve the public good.
Private Foundations – Corporate Citizenship – Nonprofit Organizations
MAKING EVALUATIONWORK FOR EVERYONE
Introduction
By Peter York
INSIDE:
Evaluation as the Cornerstone of
Organizational Capacity Building
page 2
What is Evaluative Learning?
page 3
Overcoming the Biggest Barrier to
Evaluative Learning
page 4
Key Elements of Any Evaluative
Learning Process
page 5
The First Step in Ongoing
Learning: Develop a Logic Model
page 8
Where Do Nonprofits Go From
Here?
page 8
Where Do Funders Go From Here?
page 9
Resources
page 11
The following is an excerpt of this article. Please see below to access the full article as a pdf file.
The Conservation Company often gets calls from funders and nonprofits seeking evaluation assistance. The first question we always ask is: Why? Many funders respond by saying, "We want to know what's working and what isn't." What they often mean is, "We want to know which grantees are succeeding and which aren't." The typical response from nonprofit leaders is, "We want to be able to show that our programs are e f f e c t i v e . " What they often mean is, "Our funders want us to evaluate our programs. " Both statements demonstrate that funders and nonprofit leaders typically use evaluation to prove the effectiveness of their work to others rather than for their own benefit. An important piece is missing from these answers: When evaluations aim to demonstrate something to someone else, their design often excludes opportunities for internal learning. Questions about how to strengthen programs and services, use resources more efficiently and effectively, and share models of success
take a back seat to questions of whether everyone did what they said they would do, and if clients' lives and communities improved as a result. The learning can't stop there….
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