intelligent measurement

Evaluation the lowest priority for US non-profits

November 29, 2012 at 2:05 pm Leave a comment

  The US-based Innovation Network has published a very interesting study on the State of Evaluation in US non-profit organisations.

The study, based on a survey of some 550 non-profits in the US produced some interesting findings, including the headline above, which is admittedly the more pessimistic of the following:

• 90% of organizations report evaluating their work (up from 85% in 2010)
• 100% (!) of organizations reported using and communicating their evaluation findings
• Budgeting for evaluation is still low. More than 70% of organizations are spending less than 5% of organizational budgets on evaluation
• On average, evaluation-and its close relation, research, continue to be the lowest priorities (compared to fundraising, financial management, communications, etc.)

I find it incredible that 100% report using and communicating their evaluations – If only this would be “significant” usage then we would all be happy…

View the report>>

Entry filed under: Evaluation methodology, Evaluation reporting.