A Funder's Guide to Evaluation

A Funder's Guide to Evaluation PDF Author: Peter York
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
Traditionally, funders expect evaluation to show that resources are being used wisely. But evaluation can be a much more powerful tool--for both funders and nonprofits. Forward-looking grantmakers and grantees are leveraging their evaluations, ensuring that the time and money spent ultimately improves effectiveness for everyone. This book shows how they're doing it, including - How the ""evaluative learning"" approach furthers ongoing improvement via collaborative, stakeholder influenced evaluations - How to bridge the differences in what funders and nonprofits need from evaluation - How evaluation builds four critical capacities--leadership, adaptive capacity, management, and technical capacity - Seven steps a funder can take to build the evaluative learning capacity in nonprofits - Thirteen specific evaluative learning strategies that funders can support Worksheets and assessment tools will help funders 1) assess their readiness to implement evaluative learning; 2) develop a logic model; 3) uncover grantees' current evaluation efforts and preparedness for evaluative learning; and 4) use resources wisely when selecting an evaluative learning support strategy. When the funding community supports evaluative learning, nonprofits and funders together can figure out how to strengthen programs, better allocate resources, and share successful models.

A Funder's Guide to Evaluation

A Funder's Guide to Evaluation PDF Author: Peter York
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
Traditionally, funders expect evaluation to show that resources are being used wisely. But evaluation can be a much more powerful tool--for both funders and nonprofits. Forward-looking grantmakers and grantees are leveraging their evaluations, ensuring that the time and money spent ultimately improves effectiveness for everyone. This book shows how they're doing it, including - How the ""evaluative learning"" approach furthers ongoing improvement via collaborative, stakeholder influenced evaluations - How to bridge the differences in what funders and nonprofits need from evaluation - How evaluation builds four critical capacities--leadership, adaptive capacity, management, and technical capacity - Seven steps a funder can take to build the evaluative learning capacity in nonprofits - Thirteen specific evaluative learning strategies that funders can support Worksheets and assessment tools will help funders 1) assess their readiness to implement evaluative learning; 2) develop a logic model; 3) uncover grantees' current evaluation efforts and preparedness for evaluative learning; and 4) use resources wisely when selecting an evaluative learning support strategy. When the funding community supports evaluative learning, nonprofits and funders together can figure out how to strengthen programs, better allocate resources, and share successful models.

A Funder's Guide to Organizational Assessment

A Funder's Guide to Organizational Assessment PDF Author: Many Many Contributors
Publisher: Funder's Guide
ISBN: 9780940069534
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Accompanying CD-ROM contains ... "invaluable examples and adaptations of the tools."--Page 4 of cover.

Impact Evaluation in Practice, Second Edition

Impact Evaluation in Practice, Second Edition PDF Author: Paul J. Gertler
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464807809
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 444

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Book Description
The second edition of the Impact Evaluation in Practice handbook is a comprehensive and accessible introduction to impact evaluation for policy makers and development practitioners. First published in 2011, it has been used widely across the development and academic communities. The book incorporates real-world examples to present practical guidelines for designing and implementing impact evaluations. Readers will gain an understanding of impact evaluations and the best ways to use them to design evidence-based policies and programs. The updated version covers the newest techniques for evaluating programs and includes state-of-the-art implementation advice, as well as an expanded set of examples and case studies that draw on recent development challenges. It also includes new material on research ethics and partnerships to conduct impact evaluation. The handbook is divided into four sections: Part One discusses what to evaluate and why; Part Two presents the main impact evaluation methods; Part Three addresses how to manage impact evaluations; Part Four reviews impact evaluation sampling and data collection. Case studies illustrate different applications of impact evaluations. The book links to complementary instructional material available online, including an applied case as well as questions and answers. The updated second edition will be a valuable resource for the international development community, universities, and policy makers looking to build better evidence around what works in development.

Fundraising Basics

Fundraising Basics PDF Author: Barbara L. Ciconte
Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Learning
ISBN: 9780763734466
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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Book Description
This primer helps new fund raisers learn the basics, from the vocabulary of fund raising to the nuances of major trends affecting nonprofit fundraising today. With up-to-date case studies and reallife examples, this practical guide will provide an overview of the field and give development staff, managers, and directors a platform from which to operate their fund raising programs. This guide is a musthave for anyone new to the fund raising arena.

Grantmaking Basics

Grantmaking Basics PDF Author: Barbara Kibbe
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Endowments
Languages : en
Pages : 142

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Book Description


A Funder's Guide to Using Evidence of Program Effectiveness in Scale-Up Decisions

A Funder's Guide to Using Evidence of Program Effectiveness in Scale-Up Decisions PDF Author: Michael Bangser
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Foundations and other private funders increasingly seek opportunities to “scale impact” -- that is, to extend the benefits of cost-effective interventions to more people, either by expanding these efforts in their current locations or by replicating them in new locations. However, the effect that funders seek to have on vexing social problems, such as entrenched poverty, the educational achievement gap, and health disparities, will not materialize unless they can identify interventions that truly work and then support sustained, high-quality implementation of these interventions as they scale up. There should be a high bar of reliable evidence to justify substantial scale-up because the stakes are high: Many lives will be affected, substantial funding is typically involved, and valuable resources can be wasted if funders back the wrong interventions. Nevertheless, funders often act without sufficient evidence to guide decisions on whether to invest in particular scale-up opportunities, as well as to confirm that the scale-ups they do support have been successful. This Guide provides funders with practical advice on how to think about and use evidence of effectiveness when considering investments in scale-up opportunities. The Guide does not seek to turn private funders into evaluation experts or to delve into the methodological details of particular research approaches. Rather, the focus is on the right questions that funders should ask and the pitfalls they should avoid, including how to recognize the limitations of certain kinds of evidence. The Guide is divided into three sections: Section I, Eight Key Questions to Ask Throughout the Scale-Up Process, presents what funders should look for to determine whether programs are effective. These questions provide the building blocks for the discussion in the following section. Section II, Application of the Eight Questions to Scale-Up Decisions, shows how the questions apply to the different stages of a program's evidence-building and scale-up. Section III, Next Steps for the Field, highlights some remaining challenges for the field to consider in using evidence of effectiveness to guide scale-up decisions.

The Manager's Guide to Program Evaluation

The Manager's Guide to Program Evaluation PDF Author: Paul W Mattessich.
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 1618589067
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 127

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Book Description
Your Guide to Getting a Useful Evaluation Evaluation is vital and beneficial to any nonprofit organization. An effective evaluation can help identify an organization's successes, share information with key audiences, and improve services. It can confirm that an organization is truly making a difference. This book is for: organization managers and decision makers, policymakers, funders, researchers, and students studying applied social service research. Benefits you'll get: describes what types of information to collect and what questions this information can answer; details the four phases of evaluation and the steps involved in each phase; and information on various types of research consultants and advice selecting one.

Principles-Focused Evaluation

Principles-Focused Evaluation PDF Author: Michael Quinn Patton
Publisher: Guilford Publications
ISBN: 1462531903
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 462

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Book Description
How can programs and organizations ensure they are adhering to core principles--and assess whether doing so is yielding desired results? From evaluation pioneer Michael Quinn Patton, this book introduces the principles-focused evaluation (P-FE) approach and demonstrates its relevance and application in a range of settings. Patton explains why principles matter for program development and evaluation and how they can serve as a rudder to navigate the uncertainties, turbulence, and emergent challenges of complex dynamic environments. In-depth exemplars illustrate how the unique GUIDE framework is used to determine whether principles provide meaningful guidance (G) and are useful (U), inspiring (I), developmentally adaptable (D), and evaluable (E). User-friendly features include rubrics, a P-FE checklist, firsthand reflections and examples from experienced P-FE practitioners, sidebars and summary tables, and end-of-chapter application exercises. ÿ

The Manager's Guide to Program Evaluation

The Manager's Guide to Program Evaluation PDF Author: Paul W. Mattessich
Publisher: Fieldstone Alliance
ISBN: 9780940069381
Category : Evaluation
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Your Guide to Getting a Useful Evaluation Evaluation is vital and beneficial to any nonprofit organization. An effective evaluation can help identify an organization's successes, share information with key audiences, and improve services. It can confirm that an organization is truly making a difference. This book is for: organization managers and decision makers, policymakers, funders, researchers, and students studying applied social service research. Benefits you'll get: describes what types of information to collect and what questions this information can answer; details the four phases of evaluation and the steps involved in each phase; and information on various types of research consultants and advice selecting one.

Manager's Guide to Program Evaluation: 2nd Edition

Manager's Guide to Program Evaluation: 2nd Edition PDF Author: Paul W Mattessich
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 1684427908
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 114

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Book Description
Your Guide to Getting a Useful Evaluation, now updated and revised in this second edition. Evaluation is vital and beneficial to any nonprofit organization. An effective evaluation can help identify an organization's successes, share information with key audiences, and improve services. It can confirm that an organization is truly making a difference, or what changes an organization needs to make in order to improve. This book describes what types of information to collect and what questions this information can answer, details the four phases of evaluation and the steps involved in each phase, and provides information on various types of research consultants and advice on selecting one. If you are an organization manager, decision maker, policymaker, funder, researcher, or student studying applied social service research, this guide is an essential resource for your knowledge of effective organizational management.