"We can choose an evaluation partner well. What separates a useful one from an expensive report is knowable before we sign anything."
For anyone deciding whether to bring in an evaluator: outside help or in-house, how to find and vet one, what evaluation costs, and what working together is really like.
The choice between an outside evaluator and doing it internally turns on independence, capacity, and what the funder requires, and sometimes a full evaluation is more than you need.
Explore this Topic →Vetting an evaluator comes down to specific questions about fit, method, and availability. Credentials alone won't tell you who's right for the work.
Explore this Topic →Evaluation pricing tracks scope, and quotes vary because firms are pricing different amounts of work, which makes scope the conversation worth having first.
Explore this Topic →Working with an evaluator follows a known rhythm, and a good one starts from the records you already keep without judging the state they're in.
Explore this Topic →For anyone holding or writing a grant: the evaluation section of the proposal, running the evaluation across the award, ethics and IRB, and what to do when findings are hard.
For leaders who have data and a story to tell: making sense of what you already have, turning it into reports people read, and communicating results to boards, funders, and communities.
For teams that want to own their data: helping staff get comfortable with it, evaluating your own program, and training that people actually use.