Evaluation Plan — Proving It Worked

📝 The structure — fill in YOUR words

For each objective in your goals section, answer:

  1. WHAT you'll measure (the exact number).
  2. HOW you'll collect it (survey? sign-in sheets? report cards?).
  3. WHEN you'll collect it (baseline at start, then monthly/quarterly).
  4. WHO does it (staff role — and budget their time for it).

Close with: how you'll share results (report to funder + community).

✅ A good example

"Objective: 150 teens attend twice weekly. Measure: sign-in records, collected daily by front-desk staff, tallied monthly by the coordinator. Baseline: current average of 40 drop-ins/week. Results shared in quarterly funder reports and an annual community presentation."

🚫 Common mistakes

• Promising an external evaluator you can't afford — internal tracking done well beats a fancy evaluator done poorly.
• Measuring only at the end — with no baseline, you can't prove change.
• No budget for evaluation — data collection is staff time; put it in the budget.

💡 Tips

• Funders love pre/post comparisons — collect the 'before' number on day one.
• One page of honest data beats ten pages of vague claims.