Evaluation capacity building

In an era of accountability and transparency, funders and external agencies are pressing nonprofit organizations to evaluate the impact of their programs and services. Although nonprofits increasingly acknowledge this reality, nonprofits may find evaluation challenging because of the expertise and staff resources it demands.

Foundations are an increasingly visible presence with regard to evaluation, both in terms of assessing their own efforts, and encouraging the evaluative work of the nonprofits they support.

The purpose of this research was to analyze the degree to which nonprofits were engaged in evaluation practices, examine barriers and supports to engaging in such practices, and identify activities nonprofits would find most helpful in building their capacity to conduct and use evaluation effectively.

Our findings indicate an acknowledged need among nonprofits for help and assistance around evaluation. Identified barriers to conducting evaluation were lack of funding, lack of staff or staff time, lack of affordable technical assistance and lack of training. Based on our research findings, we recognize the need for more technical assistance and consultation in the area of evaluation.

The co-investigators for this research are Deena Murphy, currently a Principal Research Associate with the National Development and Research Institutes, Inc., and Roger Mitchell, Associate Professor of Psychology at North Carolina State University. We are most grateful to every organization that provided input and support of this important work.

View the full report.

View the reference list.

This project merits further development by the Institute for Nonprofits in order to provide additional tools and resources for nonprofits to effectively use evaluation. We will be conducting phase two of this project over the next year. If you are interested in additional information about this research, please feel free to contact the Institute for Nonprofits at (919) 513-7031.