Evaluation Plan Guidance (Page 35 of 68) in pdf

EVALUATION PLAN GUIDANCE

SOCIAL INNOVATION FUND

Specific Guidance: Budget

Time Frame

The evaluation budget should reflect both the time and costs that it will take to achieve the evidence goals

outlined. If current guaranteed funding is only for part of that time, identify which portions of the budget are

funded and which are projected.

Budget Components

The evaluation budget should contain hours and costs by person or position for each major step in the

evaluation, and for any other services the evaluator is providing, such as technical assistance for project staff.

Your budget should also identify any other direct costs associated with the evaluation including travel,

printing, materials and supplies, and communications. Indirect and overhead costs should be included, either

by providing separate lines for them, or by loading them onto direct costs. Your budget should note which of

these approaches you will take.

It may be useful, particularly if your evaluation plan has many components, to develop (and include as an

appendix) a Level of Effort (LOE) chart that identifies hours by task and sub-task, by person. Developing a

detailed LOE chart can take time, but it provides a valuable tool to check that your plan is feasible. For

example, an LOE chart can tell you whether your projected number of data collectors will have enough hours

available to collect pre-implementation data before your program starts, or if you will need to have more data

collectors working at the same time.

A note about budgeting for evaluations:

The amount of an evaluation budget will vary depending on the specific design selected, the number of sites

and participants, the measures proposed, the timeframe for measurement, the type of analysis proposed, the

number and type of reports, and other factors. Budgets from a group of 70 SIF evaluations received average

19% of the program budget and reflect in many cases very tight resource allocation. In general, evaluation

budgets should be:



Commensurate with stakeholder expectations and involvement;



Appropriate for the research design used and key questions to be answered;



Adequate for ensuring quality and rigor, and;



In line with the level of program and organizational resources available.

Further, a review of evaluation and program budgets for 2010 and 2011 SIF intermediaries and information

from their experiences and reflections indicate that:



The rule of thumb ratios in use to date (i.e., between 5% and 10% of the total program budget allocated for

evaluation) result in serious under-budgeting of evaluations seeking to address both impact and

implementation. Available data indicate that between 15% and 20% is more realistic for single site quasi-

experimental designs (QEDs) and randomized controlled trials (RCTs), with some designs (e.g., multisite

RCTs, designs with intensive implementation studies) requiring 25% or more.



In general, using a percentage of program budget is not an ideal method for allocating evaluation funds.

Evaluation and program costs (costs associated with program staff’s support of evaluation activities)

should be considered in absolute dollar amounts as well as in relative terms. For example, you likely

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Evaluation Plan Guidance Page 35

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