Hello, AEA365 community! Liz DiLuzio here, Lead Curator of the blog. This week is Individuals Week, which means we take a break from our themed weeks and spotlight the Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources and Lessons Learned from any evaluator interested in sharing. Would you like to contribute to future individuals weeks? Email me at AEA365@eval.org with an idea or a draft and we will make it happen.
Hello, AEA365 community! We are Orna Ehrlich (Vice President, Strategic Impact) and Mary Harkins-Schwarz (Senior Director, Health Services Research). We work for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, a non-profit, volunteer-fueled organization dedicated to finding cures for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and improving the quality of life of children and adults
affected by these diseases.
At the Foundation, our team is focused on demonstrating the impact of the Foundation’s programs to report back progress against our strategic goals in a more regular and concrete fashion. To that end, we developed several best practices to build impact frameworks (i.e., logic models) in partnership with program managers that we wanted to share with this community as
the tool can be applicable to other non-profits and evaluators. We utilize these frameworks as an informative tool that can be developed for impact assessment, specifically: aligning stakeholders on initiative goals to be accountable, learn key takeaways and areas to improve, communicate our successes with internal and external stakeholders.
We share with staff that the framework building process is an opportunity to set or affirm initiative goals, identify resource gaps, codify activities, and highlight opportunities to meet goals more readily and/or effectively. Moreover, during the measurement process, the framework will help guide the determination of progress using quantifiable, trackable metrics. We welcome you to utilize the below checklist for developing an impact framework for any new program as well as any existing program as you are evaluating or assessing improvements with a non-evaluation team.
Best Practices Checklist for Impact Framework
- Primary stakeholders (e.g., patients/caregivers) were involved early in the process of creating the framework.
- Opportunities provided for senior staff and other stakeholders to review.
- Theory/rationale supporting program informs the framework.
- Activities are doable within program’s resources.
- Outcomes are within the scope of influence of the program.
- Framework has a logical flow (e.g., if this is done, then it is likely that will happen).
- Level of detail in framework is appropriate for intended audience (e.g., Program staff may find a framework with detailed activities, outputs, and outcomes helpful. A potential funder or board members may find a global framework more useful).
- Framework fits on one page. (If framework is longer than one page, consider simplifying or creating nested/sub-frameworks).
- Program has a plan for tracking and documenting activities, outputs, and outcomes.
- Program has a plan for reassessing the framework over time.
Lessons Learned
- Building an impact framework is meant to be an iterative process. The process takes time to allow for a multitude of stakeholder input and revisions, which may feel tedious, but it is a necessary part of the process.
- It is highly recommended to gain the primary stakeholders’ input early in the process to ensure that participant goals align with the organization’s goals.
- Start with a statement on the theory/rationale to support the program including how it fits into the strategic plan objective(s).
- Be careful to not have too many stakeholders involved at once (e.g., build with a few key people and then get input from others). It is recommended to align at the outset on who will play what role.
- The process is beneficial as it encourages stakeholders to think about the investment of program resources and expectations for longer-term outcomes.
- For programs with multiple primary goals (e.g., disease remission and quality of life), it may be best to split into separate frameworks to be specific with each goal.
Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org . aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. The views and opinions expressed on the AEA365 blog are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the American Evaluation Association, and/or any/all contributors to this site.