Evaluation

This section discusses the evaluation tool that you will use to determine the extent to which objectives have been reached. It needs to be designed so that it gives you information that will allow you (or someone else) to make a judgment about how well a program is meeting or has met its stated objectives. Building the evaluation section into your proposal demonstrates to reviewers that the evaluation process can begin as soon as the program is initiated.

These potential subsections of the evaluation section, outlined by Hall (130) can help you determine how to plan project evaluation and how to communicate this plan in your proposal:

	Identify what will be evaluated.
	List the information that will be needed.
	Explain where information will be obtained.
	Indicate the instruments that will be used to get information.
	Describe the intended analysis.
	Describe how results will be reported and utilized.

Evaluations may be either subjective, where a program evaluates itself, or objective, where the program is evaluated by an outside organization. Objective evaluation is preferred by some funding sources, and it is ideal if the evaluation instrument and/or proposal for evaluation developed by the external organization can be included in your proposal as well. Hall also notes these specific types of evaluation (129):

	Formative evaluation gives information to project and administrators and staff about the progress of the project and what can be done to improve it.
	Summative evaluation collects information to be used in assessing the completed project; its primary audience is the funding source.
	Pay-off or impact evaluation judges the value or usefulness of the project's results. It focuses on whether project results were worthwhile, regardless of whether it achieved its outcomes.
	Context or antecedent evaluation tries to answer the question of what factors exist in the project's environment or its history that may influence--or color--project conduct and outcomes (129).

Some projects do not seem to warrant evaluation, in the traditional qualitative or quantitative sense. Still, there has to be accountability to the funding source.  Here are some additional forms of accountability: 

	A visit from the donor.
	A local advisory committee to oversee the project and to communicate with the donating organization.
	For equipment or facility grants, photographs and a statement of costs to given to the donating organization (Hall 128).