Helping organizations
achieve their missions!

Program Evaluation

Program evaluation serves two major purposes:

1. to provide you with the information you need to improve your services and increase your effectiveness.

2. to help you track your progress toward your mission and demonstrate to the community and to funders that the work your organization does is effective.

Peggy's strength lies in her ability to help organizations design simple evaluation plans that are "do-able" within the context of busy, under-funded programs and that provide meaningful results.

"Concord Even Start has come to rely on the skillful guidance that Peggy offers through her local evaluation each year. Her recommendations are practical and attainable, focusing on existing program strengths, yet offering opportunities to continually develop areas in need of improvement."
- Laurie Hart, Director, Concord Even Start, Concord, NH

FAQs | Clients

FAQ - Program Evaluation

How do we go about evaluating our work without the evaluation process getting in the way of actually doing the work?
1. Your first task is to decide what questions you want to answer. What is it exactly that you want to know? Do you want to know if your clients are satisfied with the services they receive? Do you want to know if your services result in particular changes in clients' lives?

2. The second task is to think about how you would know the answer to your questions. Are you looking for someone's opinion? Are there particular behavior changes that you would see that would give you the answers to your questions?

3. The third task is to determine who would know the answers to your questions? Is there a particular subset of clients you are interested in? Is the broader community the place you will find your answers?

4. The fourth task is to realistically assess how much money, time, and energy you have to devote to evaluation.

Once you know the answers to these questions you can design an evaluation process that supports and informs the work you do rather than getting in the way of the work you do.

What kinds of evaluation does Peggy do? The biggest part of the work Peggy does is helping organizations answer the questions noted above. Once these questions are answered she will help the organization design the evaluation that works best for them. In some cases this involves designing a simple survey, creating a client needs assessment, etc. In other cases, she may run a series of focus groups. In yet others, she may help them integrate data collection into their existing intake and assessment forms.

When should we hire a researcher instead of Peggy? If you want to do a longitudinal study, implement a complex data collection system, or do a sophisticated analysis of your data, you would be best served by contracting with one of the researchers or research firms that has the expertise and resources for this kind of in-depth work with nonprofits. If you'd like help locating such a firm, feel free to call Peggy for some suggestions.

Clients - Program Evaluation

Alliance For Community Health, Portsmouth, NH -Development, Outcome-Based Assessment

Concord Even Start, Concord, NH

Corporate Fund, Concord, NH

Giving Monadnock, Keene, NH

Nashua Even Start, Nashua, NH

Seacoast Mental Health Center- New Heights, Portsmouth, NH

Statewide Family Literacy Initiative, Maine Department of Education, Augusta, Maine

Workforce Housing Coalitions, Concord, NH