Review
"ASAE has long been interested in finding ways to help associations continuously assess themselves to ensure that they are operating with maximum efficiency and effectiveness. We applaud the publication of this important new book, and the cogent plan it presents to associations for ongoing self-evaluation. Associations mean to do good work. This book will help them do it." (R William Taylor, CAE, president, American Society of Association Executives)
"In an era of concern that 'nothing works,' it is essential for nonprofts to report on effective programs. Big Brothers Big Sisters of America has known anecdotally for many years that having a Big Brother or Big Sister has an enormous impact on the life of a child. Evaluation with Power will help us continue to report on the effectiveness of our programs. Evaluation with Power provides a management tool that will help us promote organizational learning and empowerment, basic ingredients for building public confidence and program excellence, key to long-term nonprofit survival. (Thomas M. McKenna, national director, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America)
"Evaluation with Power becomes more important in the social sector every day. Donors no longer reward good intentions, they reward results. This book can help social sector leaders manage for the mission and measure results." (Frances Hesselbein, president and CEO, Peter F. Drucker Foundation)
"Terrific, easy-to-use primer on evaluation! Given the public's questioning of the performance and public accountability of organizations, this book provides the needed support and guidance to make evaluation part of our everyday work." (Geraldine N. Mannion, program officer, special projects, Carnegie Corporation of New York)
"This book combines the practical with the philosophic?process with outcomes. It answers a need many of us have who want more than simple answers?we want to continually improve on what we do. This book gives us a host of ways to do just that." (L. Bryant, executive director, National School Boards Association)
"This book offers an antidote to the infectious mentality that ?nothing works.' What works are organizations that are effective, excellent, and empowering. Ongoing evaluation is a tool for creating, sustaining, and enhancing such organizations. This book suggests that the future effectiveness of organizations depAnds on meaningful, useful, and practical evaluation. It is a major contribution to both the fields of organizational development and evaluation." (Micheal Quinn Patton, former president, American Evaluation Association)
This book clearly has the potential of becoming a classic in the literature of not-for-profits, generally. It takes evaluation from the punitive world of "now I got you" to a environment where individuals, programs, and institutions can grow to meet the challenges of a changing world." (Lee Van Bremen, executive vice president, College of American Pathologists)
From the Inside Flap
Thoughtful, meaningful evaluation is a vital tool that can help any organization progress in ways that lead to greater achievement of its mission. As an ongoing process to achieve organizational effectiveness, evaluation can be a source of power and a force for change. However people in nonprofit organizations too often see evaluation as something that is done to them rather than something they can dot themselves to strenghten their performance. Until now, they lacked the support and guidance they needed to make evaluation part of their everyday work.Evaluation With Power provides that support and guidance. Building on INDEPENDENT SECTOR'S ongoing research on evaluation, it is a practical, comprehensive handbook for transforming the organization, its management, programs, process, and organizational evaluation into a positive learning experience that connects performance to mission. The book focuses on the needs of the nonprofit and reveals the sort of evaluation that is most appropriate to and helpful for nonprofits. Sandra Trice Gray has brought together leading experts from a wide range of fields to show how to use the power of evaluation in key organizational areas, including program design, human resource management, information systems, volunteers, fund raising and more.Evaluation With Power shows that true evaluation is a process of asking good questions, gathering information to answer them, and making decisions based on those answersEvaluation With Power provides members of nonprofit sector organizations at all levels with the information and guidance they need to make evaluation work. It explains how evaluation relates to board and staff concerns and shows how it can help create an environment for learning and renewal. It provides the "how" of an ongoing process of evaluation and will help organizations make the most of limited resources and ensure its viability and health in a changing environment.
