Program Evaluation
Wilder Research evaluates nonprofit programs of all sizes – from a neighborhood outreach program to a national initiative
A well-thought out evaluation helps you to better understand the impact of your work and can benefit your organization in a number of ways. It provides you with objective information to identify what’s working well and what is not, to make effective changes, to influence policymakers, and to raise funds.
We work with you to build a clear understanding of goals and expectations, determine key priorities, and identify measurable results that will be most useful to your internal and external stakeholders. We will make sure you can implement your plan within the available time and resources, and that any outcome claims can be supported by data.
Depending on your needs and budget, we can guide you through the entire process, or on specific phases. We have the capacity to conduct large, complex evaluations, including those that are multi-year and use multiple methods. Our services include logic models, evaluation design, data collection, and analysis of results.
Process Evaluation
Process evaluation looks at how well a program is being implemented, and can help inform program leaders if they are reaching intended clients, how well they are serving clients, and if program components are working as intended. We can help you identify the questions that need to be asked, collect frank feedback from various groups of stakeholders, compare results with other programs, and interpret findings.
Outcome Evaluation
Outcome evaluation examines a program's impact by documenting changes that occur for participants in a program, and looking at whether program participants were more likely to experience an outcome than nonparticipants. Depending on the size of the program being evaluated, it may be possible to use statistical alaysis to measure whether or not the program causes the change.
Developmental Evaluation
Programs or initiatives may be dependent on changing and evolving policy, funding, or demographics, and they must adapt to remain effective. In some cases, the number of interacting parts and players in a collaborative or complex program make it impossible to predict results. We have research expertise in developmental evaluation that will help you identify how shifting patterns of an initiative can be used to help produce desired outcomes – or to determine if a different outcome is best in a changed environment.
Network Analysis
Collaborations, partnerships and many other efforts require developing or strengthening relationships to achieve their goals. Network analysis is a relatively new tool for mapping and understanding what relationships already exist that can be built on, what may need to be worked on, and what kind of progress is being made.