One of the reasons I believe that evaluations are not more prominent in the non-profit world is that everyone brings hesitations and concerns about the impact that it may have. In order for evaluation to be welcomed and most effective, it is important to put these fears to rest which requires recognizing the “threat” potentially posed to different positions.
Program staffs fear that an evaluation will put their job in jeopardy. If the evaluation results show that the program is less effective than assumed they fear they will be blamed. Development staffs fear that if donors learn the results of the evaluation they might stop giving believing that their money is not being effectively utilized. Managers and executives have the same hesitations as program and development professionals because they often have risen from those rolls and are responsible for the big mission and responsible to the Board. Finally, boards of directors do not want to push evaluations because they do not want to make the executive or staff feel threatened and sometimes do not want to know the results.
When you conduct evaluations, it is essential that the purpose and goals of it are framed correctly. Blame, failure, and responsibility should not be part of the discussion. The discussion should not just focus on challenges. Strengths can tell you a lot of what is currently working and often it is possible to achieve better results by focusing on strengths.
The goal of the evaluation is to evaluate current outcomes and discover ways to improve or expand them in the future. This is a goal that everyone at the table wants that to happen. As staff begin to see that the evaluations are looking at the program and not the individual, they will become more comfortable and the evaluations will become easier and more successful.