Evaluation
Briefing papers
The Sustainability Formula
The size of a nonprofit's operating budget is not necessarily the best metric for determining its sustainability. This couldn't be more apparent in the current economic climate where many nonprofits have to make tough decisions about cutting programs and staff or shutting their doors altogether. TCC Group conducted a statistical analysis of the factors that correlate to organizational sustainability for approximately 700 nonprofit organizations that used its Core Capacity Assessment Tool (CCAT). The paper highlights the three main factors that determine a nonprofit's sustainability: leadership, adaptability, and program capacity.
What Makes an Effective Advocacy Organization?
This paper, researched and written by Senior Consultant Jared Raynor and Director of
Research and Development, Pete York and former TCC consultant, Shao Chee Sim draws on a
variety of sources, looking at the context for policy and advocacy work and the
distinctive characteristics of such work, outlining a model for evaluating
organizational capacity and describing how this is adapted for advocacy organizations.
Effective
Nonprofit Evaluation: Through a "Community of Learners"
TCC's Associate Director of Evaluation, Chantell Johnson and affiliate, Allison
Crean, CEO of Informed Educators Consulting Group, provide seven pragmatic steps for
effectively building the evaluation capacity of stakeholders while designing a complex
evaluation.
Creating a Community of Learners:
Successful Evaluative Learning for Nonprofits and Funders
The increasing emphasis on evaluation and accountability has led nonprofits to reconsider
how they conduct evaluations in an effort to find a way that is both meaningful to the
staff and useful for their funders. This paper explores the Community of Learners
approach as an evaluation method that actively involves the staff and leaders of a
foundation or nonprofit in the evaluation process.
Learning As We Go: Making
Evaluation Work for Everyone
This paper distills what TCC has learned about evaluative learning and provides
information and tools to help you take the next steps so everyone can "learn
as we go."
Books & Reports
A Funder's Guide to Evaluation: Leveraging Evaluation to Improve Nonprofit
Effectiveness
TCC Group's Director of Evaluation, Pete York, authored a funder's guide to
evaluation. Click here
for an order form.
Articles
A Climate Change in Evaluation: Leadership in Difficult Times
Evaluating
Capacity-building Efforts for Nonprofit Organizations
This paper explains how funders, management support organizations, evaluators, and
nonprofits can evaluate efforts to enhance the management and governance of
nonprofit organizations.
