Evaluation Trends Among Non-Profits
How do non-profits use program evaluation? What are the trends and what are the challenges for evaluation in the non-profit sector? A recent report by the Center for Effective Philanthropy, based on information drawn from 514 non-profit organizations found that:
- 56% of nonprofits collect information from programmatic assessments, or indicators of outcomes they seek to change.
- 43% collect Information about their organization’s reach: number of beneficiaries served or units of service provided.
- While 90% devote some portion of their budget toward performance assessment, 55% spend 2% or less of their budget on that effort.
- Nearly one-third of nonprofits use third-party evaluators to conduct formal assessments of their performance, and those that do typically have annual expenses greater than $1.4 million.
- 83% of nonprofits reported that they are using their performance information to improve their programs and services at least “to a great extent,” and 68%use their information to inform their strategic direction at least “to a great extent.”
- Only 36% reported that they tend to receive financial and/or non-monetary support from their foundation funders to help assess their performance, with 64% reporting they receive no such support.
(See http://massnonprofit.org/news.php?artid=4084&catid=13)
As we’ve discussed in earlier blog posts, evaluation can be an important tool for helping non-profits’ to understand the positive effects they are achieving and the differences they are making. As the above study indicates, evaluation can also be a important source of information for program refinement and determining strategic direction. To learn about our evaluation methods visit our Data collection & Outcome measurement page.
Or for more discussion about the various uses and benefits of program evaluation for non-profits, please see our articles, “Evaluation Serves Community Foundations and Donors,” “Program Evaluation Supports Strategic Planning” and “Program Evaluation and Organization Development.”
As mentioned in a previous