A Funder's Guide to Evaluation: Leveraging Evaluation to Improve Nonprofit Effectiveness

Here's how funders are leveraging evaluation to improve nonprofit effectivenessTraditionally, 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. A Funder's Guide to Evaluation: Leveraging Evaluation to Improve Nonprofit Effectiveness will help funders use evaluation to build the capacity of grantees. Inside, you'll learn 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.

About the Author :
PETER YORK is Vice President and director of evaluation at TCC Group, a twenty-five-year-old firm with offices in New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. He leads the firm's evaluation practice and serves on its board of directors. Peter provides consulting services to nonprofits and grantmakers. He has published articles and conducted numerous workshops related to evaluation and capacity building.

Review :
"EVALUATIVE LEARNING is a concept whose time has come. This comprehensive guide convincingly makes the case for evaluation as a means to build nonprofit capacity and support effectiveness, while providing accessible action steps and practical tools that any funder can use straightaway to improve their grantmaking." —Steven LaFrance, principal, LaFrance Associates, LLC"Evaluation is often presented as a learning tool but the practical application generally falls far short of that goal. Peter York presents a framework for moving past the current, limited application of evaluation for outcome measurement and to an evaluative learning process that BENEFITS BOTH NONPROFITS AND FUNDERS. The book is a welcome addition to literature on the use of evaluation in the philanthropic sector." —Tracey A. Rutnik, director, Strategic Initiatives; Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers