Results-Monitoring and Financial Vibrancy
Financially vibrant organizations are able to describe the value they produce in the world and tell effective stories to funders and to their communities about whose lives have improved, and how, as a result of their work.
Increasingly, funding is as much driven by results as it is by needs. Program Evaluation (or more simply results monitoring) is no longer optional; it is essential to the long-term financial viability of most programs and services - and by extension the financial health of the organizations that provide them.
Program evaluation contributes to financial vibrancy by:
- Demonstrating organization and program effectiveness and accountability, which are essential for building partnerships, developing new sources of revenues, and attracting funders
- Helping to figure out what is working and perhaps as importantly why it is working
- Helping organizations see what capacities they have developed and which ones they might invest further in
- Helping organizations see what outcomes they produce, and therefore to look more systematically at the potential to partner
- Building ‘bragging rights’ - positive feedback (e.g., testimonials) and findings (e.g., placement statistics) can be incorporated into marketing materials.
- Supporting continuous program improvement, which enhances an agency’s funding prospects.
