What is the purpose of program and/or organizational evaluation?

The purpose of program and organization evaluation is to see if the organization is most effectively utilizing its resources and achieving its mission. Unfortunately, as mentioned in the Stanford Social Innovation Review article, nonprofits usually only engage in their own internal evaluations in order to please a funder, listening to their needs, instead of listening to those who matter most – the beneficiaries. The article goes on to mention that this is very different from the for-profit world: customers technically “evaluate” businesses everyday through their purchasing power. However, in the nonprofit world, beneficiaries can’t always “move their business elsewhere” – sure a client can choose another human services organization to visit to receive counseling services, but can whales really “choose” another human rights organization? This is why it’s critical that organizations routinely complete strategic planning and then have the board of directors review that strategic plan, THEN after the organization has completed the 3-to-5 year term of the strategic plan, they should evaluate themselves to see how well they have achieved their goals. Additionally – client feedback is enormously powerful – at our nonprofit, we use a range of strategies to solicit feedback from our clients, including surveys and focus groups. We have often found that some of our educational materials to be too confusing for the end user – thus we weren’t effectively carrying out our mission! By evaluating ourselves and working to set high standards for our organizations, we can make a real impact and change lives, families, and communities.