Program Evaluation Dixie L. King, Ph.D. Transforming Local Communities, Inc.

A few key facts:  Program evaluation is integral to grant writing—even if the grant application does not specify the use of an outside program evaluator.  A good evaluation design (often captured in the form of a logic model) will:  Help you define your goals, objectives, and supporting activities, and  Provide the outline for your grant narrative, making it very easy to write a clear, logical, and engaging description of what you plan to do, and how you plan to do it.

Things to keep in mind:  A program evaluator’s primary responsibilities are to:  Assist you in developing measurable objectives than can be tracked, reported, and used to make adjustments to program content and delivery;  Ensure that your program design is coherent—that is, to help you make sure that your activities support your objectives.  A good evaluation design will demonstrate whether and how you are changing the lives of your clients.

Rules that will create the working relationship you want and need:  Involve a program evaluator in the grant writing process on the day you decide to apply for the grant. This is true even if you are required to go to bid for your evaluator once the grant is funded (but this may mean paying a technical assistance fee to the evaluator).  Before you begin work on your project narrative OR budget, work with the evaluator in convening your stakeholder group to determine the goals and objectives that will be the foundation of your grant.  Remember that a local program evaluator is not a researcher, monitor, or federal program officer. The local evaluator is a member of your team, whose role is to collect, analyze and disseminate information critical to creating the best program possible. This may mean telling you things you’d rather not hear—but always in the cause of program improvement.