Program Evaluation for Lean Nonprofits
October 26 (9:30-11:30am), via Zoom
Program evaluation is not just about reporting back to Grants and Foundations. While demonstrating ROI is important, your programmatic outcomes can be used for legislative advocacy efforts and allow you to have key insights into your program’s effectiveness within the community. In this workshop, you will learn how to create a culture of Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI), a human-driven cyclical process (not a software) that focuses on the value of people’s input. We will discuss the types of data your program can collect, both qualitative and quantitative as well as agile and equitable ways to evaluate your program. You will walk away with simple FREE tools to capture your data, transform your data into meaningful outcomes, and present your data as a compelling story.
The objective of the workshop is:
- To inspire program managers to create a culture of Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI),
- For Program Managers to have a working knowledge of data types they can collect (Data 101)
- To introduce industry standards and concepts such as logic models, outcomes statements, and indicators.
- To demonstrate equitable practices in program evaluation and survey construction
- FREE- using Google forms
- To demonstrate how to structure to data and set up some calculations for meaningful data analysis
- FREE- using Google Spreadsheets
- To demonstrate how to create simple charts and graphs to tell a compelling story.
- FREE- using Google Spreadsheets
Note: Free one-on-one coaching is available by the hour on a first-come, first-served basis. Please email Liana@npcberkshires.org to reserve your session(s).
About Sara Borden
Sara Borden is a self-driven, responsive, and agile partner (ally) who uses both right and left brain to promote the outcomes of community-based programs for non-profit organizations. Possessing strong project management and data analysis skills, she has created “easy-to-understand” dashboards and reporting solutions that provide program accountability and assist in securing future grant funding. She enjoys transforming data into compelling stories, using both qualitative and quantitative evidence to illuminate the personal experiences of the lives we impact in our community.
With 14 years working in the non-profit sector, Sara has experience in program evaluation, grant seeking, and grantmaking. Her career includes a role as Impact Reporting Manager at Kripalu Yoga & Health Center for a program called RISE; a yoga-based 5-day retreat experience in stress resiliency provided to frontline professionals in medicine, education, and law enforcement who were on full scholarship. In this role, she was research liaison to the Brigham and Women’s research team, learning both qualitative and quantitative research techniques and translating the extraordinary outcomes into lay terms for grants reporting and future proposals. The research findings have been published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine and in Global Advances in Health and Medicine. Sara has also served as Director of Grants and Outcomes at 18 Degrees, where she worked with twenty-two program directors on their grant applications, logic model creation, and survey construction. She implemented easy-to-use technological solutions that allowed for agile reporting of client outcomes in child and family well-being. In her current role as Program Manager for Research and Evaluation at Berkshire United Way, Sara has crossed over to the other side into the grantmaking world. Her passion is building a culture of trust-based philanthropy because she has been in your shoes! She feels as Grantmakers, we have a responsibility to confront the ways our sector has contributed to systemic inequities, recognizing the history, and embracing trust-based values that solicit feedback, eliminate barriers, and offer support after the check.
She believes being data-driven does not have to be overly complicated. She enjoys being a thought partner and finding lean data solutions that illuminate results and empower program directors. She thrives on working with diverse teams, enjoys working with volunteers, and connecting to the community. To contact Sara, you can message her on LinkedIn or email her at sborden@berkshireunitedway.org.