Evaluation: You won't get far without it

Over the past 20 years, nonprofits, foundations, and government agencies have been steadily ramping up their commitment to objective and specific outcome measures and to quality program evaluation. But push has now come to shove. The recession-induced drop in foundation giving and the volatile uncertainties of government funding are producing an increasing demand for accountability. To get funding to start new initiatives and to sustain existing services, you've got to be able to prove that what your organization does makes a difference.

How can nonprofit administrators make the tough decisions about where to put limited and often decreasing resources? How can they know which of their efforts are producing the most impact? The question is not, "Did we do the work?" The question is, "Did it make a difference?"

And grantmakers face similar dilemmas. How can they know which of their social investments are paying off? How can they decide which organizations to support with their shrinking bank accounts?