A Very Brief Overview of Evaluation

A good evaluation plan is often needed to satisfy the requirements of the grantor, but more importantly, it can be a useful tool for the grantee.  It is a tool that the program director can use to improve the program, make adjustments if needed, prove the degree of success and lay the groundwork for future grants.   Without an evaluation plan, the program director is left to relying on guesswork to determine the effectiveness of his/her efforts.

Many, perhaps most, grantors ask their grantees to submit periodic progress and/or final reports.  The funder is seeking evidence that grant dollars are well spent and making a beneficial impact upon society.  In years past, the grantor community found that grantees did not always do a good job of providing reliable evidence of beneficial impact made through the programs conducted with grant funds.  Thus, in recent years, grantors have increasingly turned to asking grant applicants to provide an evaluation plan in the grant proposal.   Those grant applicants who provide a plan to effectively evaluate impact of their project naturally increase their odds of being funded. 

The key to an effective evaluation plan is to integrate it with the other sections of the proposal, not tack it on as an afterthought.   In the Need or Problem Statement section of the proposal, a proposal writer describes the current situation.  This includes baseline data, which will be the starting point from which progress will be measured.  In the Program Description section, the proposal writer includes measurable, time-bound objectives—the anticipated future situation that will be made possible by the proposed program.  The evaluation plan is the description of the process by which progress from the baseline towards the objectives will be measured.

Larger, more complex projects suggest the need for a more sophisticated evaluation plan, often with the assistance of an evaluation expert.  Program staff may be able to conduct an effective evaluation for smaller projects.  Consult the grant program guidelines and/or program officer for guidance on the level of evaluation expected by the grantor.  Also consider the other audiences to which you may want to provide evaluation information, such as staff members, department chairs, board members, media, or future grantors, and design the evaluation plan accordingly.  Choose evaluation methods that relate directly to the objectives in the Program Description—for each objective, design an evaluation process to measure degree of completion or success.  Plan for a formative and summative evaluation; these will pair with the process and outcome objectives.  Indicate who will measure, using which method(s) and tool(s), and how often they will measure.   Also indicate how the results will be used to improve the program.

A good evaluation will provide useful, relevant, and practical data that can inform decisions, lead to better programs and more effective use of grant dollars.  For more information on evaluation, proposal writers can contact the corporate foundation relations office.