Marcia Festen & Marianne Philbin 
Level Best [PDF ebook] 
How Small and Grassroots Nonprofits Can Tackle Evaluation and Talk Results

Figure, Tables, Worksheets, Exhibits, Agendas.
Introduction.
How to Use This Book.
Instruction with Samples and Examples.
1 Understanding Evaluation.
Evaluation as Power Instead of Pain.
What Evaluation Is and What It Is Not.
2 A Simple Evaluation Framework.
The Basic Evaluation Framework.
Key Concepts:What to Evaluate and How to Get Started.
The Rolling Evaluation Method.
3 Planning Your Evaluation.
A Quick Review of Basic Organizational Readiness.
Definition of an Effective Organization.
What You Plan Affects What You Learn.
Step by Step: Planning Your Evaluation.
Understanding Funders’Needs and Fitting Them into Your
Evaluation Plan.
Why Setting Goals Makes Evaluation Easier.
How You Can Prepare.
4 Asking the Right Questions.
Clear Program Goals Guide Evaluation Questions and Choices.
What to Evaluate:What You Do Versus What Your Constituents
Do.
If or Then:Which to Evaluate?
The Relationship Between Evaluating What You Do (Process) and
What They Do (Outcome).
Determine the Right Questions.
Ask What You Really Want to Know.
How Advocacy Organizations Can Approach Evaluation.
How to Be Answerable When Advocacy and Organizing Are Your
Agenda.
Ideas for Measuring Organizing Efforts.
5 Tracking Information.
Options for Tracking Information.
The Right Goal Statement Helps Determine the Right Things to
Track.
6 Learning From and Using the Information.
Making Use of Your Information.
Organizing Your Information.
Drawing Conclusions.
Using What You Learn.
Sharing Your Evaluation Results with the Outside World.
Feeding Results into the Cycle of Planning.
Tying Evaluation into Planning.
Deciding Where to Begin.
Incorporating Evaluation into Your Strategic Planning
Process.
Resources.
A Commonly Used Terms and Their Definitions.
B Types of Evaluation.
C Sample Completed Evaluation Planning Worksheet.
D Sample Evaluation Report Outline.
E Program Evaluation Standards.
Acknowledgments.
About the Authors.
References.
Index.

Marcia Festen of Marcia K. Festen Associates in Chicago is a
consultant to nonprofits and foundations.In addition to conducting
evaluations, she develops policy and grantmaking strategies,
programs, and initiatives. She was a senior program officer at the
John D. and Catherine T. Mac Arthur Foundation and hasover twenty
years of experience in the field.
Marianne Philbin is a writer, trainer, and consultant
specializing in nonprofit organizational development.She has worked
for a wide range of foundations and nonprofit organizations, and
has an extensive background in grantmaking, fundraising, and
nonprofit management. She is an instructor for the Donors Forum of
Chicago and a lecturer at Northwestern University’s School of
Continuing Studies.