Evaluation
Help with defining criteria, monitoring progress and evaluating your campaign.
Effective campaigns incorporate an evaluation plan as part of the strategic plan, monitoring progress from the very beginning, and adjusting campaign strategies in response to new information along the way. No campaign ever goes exactly as planned. The most important use of evaluation data is to fix things that aren’t working as intended.
It’s also important to be able to report on the status of your campaign’s effectiveness to key stakeholders at any time.
We have included resources in this section to help you design an evaluation plan in order to monitor your campaign at all times.
W.K. Kellogg Foundation Evaluation Handbook (1998)
This handbook provides a framework for thinking about evaluation
as a relevant and useful program tool. It was written for project
directors who are responsible for the ongoing evaluation of W.K.
Kellogg Foundation-funded projects, but it useful for anyone
designing and monitoring strategic evaluation programs.
Evaluation should be conducted not only to demonstrate that a project worked, but also to improve the way it works. An evaluation approach should be rigorous in its efforts to determine the worth of a program and to guide program implementation and management, as well as relevant and useful to program practitioners. Although evaluation is useful to document impact and demonstrate accountability, it should also lead to more effective programs, greater learning opportunities, and better knowledge of what works. This Evaluation Handbook is designed to provide a solid base from which to make decisions that ultimately lead to stronger programs and more effective services.
W. K. Kellogg Foundation’s Evaluation Knowledgebase
Nonprofits today are being pressed to demonstrate the
effectiveness of their program activities by initiating and
completing outcome-oriented evaluation of projects. The Kellogg
resources are very extensive and provide practical assistance to
nonprofits engaged in the evaluation process process, including
an orientation to the underlying principles of “logic modeling”
to enhance their program planning, implementation, and
dissemination activities. Resources include downloadable
toolkits, guides, presentations, and links to additional
evaluation materials.
Additional Resources
Children, Youth and Families Education and Research Network
(CYFERNET)
CYFERnet’s Evaluation section includes practical tools that you
can use to evaluate community-based programs; information on how
community programs can be sustained; and assessments of
organizational support for work in the areas of children, youth,
and families.
Enhancing Program
Performance with Logic Models
This website was created by the University of Wisconsin and
brings a full web-based course on how to develop logic models and
use them for planning and evaluating education and outreach
programs.
Guiding Principles for Evaluators
A Report from the American Evaluation Association (AEA) Task
Force that articulates a set of principles to guide the
professional practice of evaluation and informs the general
public about the principles used by professional evaluators.
National
Science Foundation’s User-Friendly Handbook for Project
Evaluation
This Handbook was developed to provide managers working with the
National Science Foundation (NSF) with a basic guide for the
evaluation of NSF’s educational programs. It is aimed at people
who need to learn more about both what evaluation can do and how
to do an evaluation, rather than those who already have a solid
base of experience in the field. It builds on firmly established
principles, blending technical knowledge and common sense to meet
the special needs of NSF and its stakeholders. The Handbook
discusses quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods,
suggesting ways in which they can be used as complements in an
evaluation strategy.
On-line Evaluation Resources Library
This website provides a large collection of plans, reports, and
instruments from National Science Foundation evaluations in
several content areas of education.