Using real-life excerpts from funding notices and actual evaluation plans, this session will walk attendees through the steps to designing a quality evaluation plan. Content will include the following:

- formative and summative evaluation

- qualitative and quantitative data

- establishing baselines for data

- writing Objectives with evaluation in mind

- quasi-experimental and experimental designs and their pitfalls

- scaling a plan to fit the grant's allowable budget and applicant's capacity

- how and when to work with an external evaluator

- using what you learn to improve your programs or plan your next grant

The session will allow for audience discussion and sharing of experiences among attendees. Participants will leave with an evaluation checklist and list of resources for additional information on evaluation.

The content will be purposefully "agency agnostic," meaning it will not focus on just one federal agency. The speaker will make clear at the beginning that we will NOT be discussing research grants or high-level experimental designs, other than to introduce those topics to the audience.

Presenter:

Cheryl L. Kester, CFRE, GPC, is owner of The Kester Group, specializing in federal grants and external evaluations. Since 1999 her proposals have raised more than $170 million. She is a national GPA board member. She loves speaking to GPA and AFP chapters, talking people into joining GPA, and riding her bike. A frequent speaker and trainer, she is a GPA approved trainer and the co-author of Writing to Win Federal Grants and the Writing to Win Federal Grants Workbook.

 
Skill Level:
Mid-Career

Learning Path: 
Federal Grants

GPC Competencies:
How to craft, construct, and submit an effective grant application

Strategies for effective program and project design and development Organizational development as it pertains to grant seeking