Evaluating Programs

Registration fee of $50 for up to 3 people from each organization

Your stakeholders put their trust in you every time they donate money and time to your organization. They believe in your mission and in your work, but how do you continue and grow that relationship? Whether you are receiving grant funding, in-kind items, volunteer time, or small and large monetary donations, you must demonstrate that there is an important need that your organization is uniquely positioned to address, and that their donations will be used effectively. 

Large organizations often have staff dedicated to studying and evaluating their programs. It can feel out of reach and overwhelming to small organizations to gather data about your programming and measure outcomes. In this workshop, we’ll talk about how to balance the need for this information with the time and energy it takes to get it. 

A regular system of evaluation and adaptation, that includes hard data, will reassure your supporters that their time and money is being put to good use addressing the most pressing needs. This workshop will help you raise more money by walking you through items most important to supporters, including ways to:

• Show that your programming is necessary and important
• Evaluate and discuss the successes and weaknesses of past programming
• Track, research, and use qualitative and quantitative data
• Discuss how you are adapting current programming to better align with community needs and your resources
• Make reasonable predictions for future programming

About the Instructor: Dawn M. Watson completed her Master’s of Social Work from Millersville University in May 2024. She is employed as a Neighbor Insights and Qualitative Research Specialist for the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, a nonprofit organization serving 27 counties. Her prior professional roles include children and youth services, public welfare, and human services administration. As a graduate student research assistant with Millersville University’s School of Social Work and the Center for Public Scholarship and Social Change, she contributed to research and publications on the topics of poverty and empathy, social isolation, and unsheltered homelessness in Lancaster City.

Thank you to the Lancaster County Community Foundation for their support of PRC’s Toolkit Series. To see the rest of the workshops in this series, click here.

All sales are non-refundable.