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Feeling pressured to provide proof to your stakeholders?

Robin LaBarbera • Feb 05, 2022

How to provide data that shows your program's impact.

As a non-profit leader, you are aware of the need for stakeholders to see professional-level evidence that your program is effective and impact the community you serve in the way it was intended. You already know through anecdotal evidence that you are making a difference in the lives of those you serve. But informal stories of lives changed isn’t enough to satisfy grant-making agencies – they want hard data that proves it.


You need evidence to demonstrate the impact you’re having on the community and whether you're achieving the program’s objectives. You may be in the enviable position of having a well-established program. Now is also a great time to conduct a program evaluation. While you may be hearing anecdotally that your efforts are successful, that isn't reliable enough information to “sell” your program to outside stakeholders and funders. Evaluation results demonstrating positive impact will be necessary if you're looking to scale up a successful program. A program evaluation can provide the evidence of the impact you're making on your community.


Program evaluation is carefully collecting information about a program or some aspect of a program in order to make necessary decisions about the program. 


Program evaluation provides answer to critical questions that your board, staff, volunteers, funders, and supporters may have about your organization and its work in the community, such as:

  • How well is your program fulfilling the mission?
  • How well is your program meeting the needs of your constituents and the community?
  • What impact are you having?
  • Are you making a difference?
  • Where are you succeeding?
  • What else needs to be done, or where can the program be improved?


Program evaluation, when done well, can guide decision making about your budgeting, staffing, fundraising, and strategic planning. Concrete, factual data offer evidence and advance the case for making programmatic changes. For example, evaluation data may show the trends of growth or decline in participation in a program; it may demonstrate unmet needs among your stakeholders; or it may reveal that a program is too costly and has low impact on your constituents.

 

You can hire a professional program evaluator to provide the evidence your stakeholders need.

 

Your evaluator will work with you to design and test data collection instruments and processes, analyze the data, work with you and other stakeholders to interpret results, and prepare visually appealing and clear reports, briefs, infographics and video learnings of results. Both quantitative data (numbers) as well as qualitative findings (descriptive statements and accounts) can help you tell the story of your impact.


Let the professionals at LaBarbera Learning Solutions do this important work for you. Our team has over 15 years of experience demonstrating program impact to organizations – from governmental agencies like the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, to one professor who implemented a community-building activity in her courses, to a nonprofit faith-based prison education/training program. Learn more about our evaluation services at https://www.labarberalearning.com/program-evaluation or scan the QR code below:

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