Evaluation Plan Guidance (Page 4 of 68) in pdf

EVALUATION PLAN GUIDANCE

SOCIAL INNOVATION FUND

Guidance Overview

The purpose of the Social Innovation Fund (SIF) is to grow the

About this Guidance

impact of innovative community-based solutions that have

compelling evidence of improving the lives of people in low-

This guidance is intended to be used by SIF

income communities throughout the United States. As one of the

grantees, subgrantees, and evaluators in

federal government’s “tiered-evidence initiatives,” the SIF

preparing a SIF Evaluation Plan (SEP).

embodies a commitment to use rigorous evidence both to select

Because each of these audiences may have a

recipients of federal funding and to validate the impact of their

different level of evaluation knowledge, non-

program models. The SIF specifically directs resources toward

technical terms are used where available,

increasing the evidence base, capacity, and scale of the

and technical and SIF-specific terms are

defined throughout.

organizations that it funds in order to prove and improve the

lives of people served by those organizations.

This document has four sections:

What do we mean by increasing the evidence base? Like other

This Introduction

“tiered-evidence” initiatives, the SIF sees levels of evidence as a

The Suggested Evaluation Plan Outline

continuum with preliminary evidence on one end and strong

The Detailed Evaluation Plan Guidance

evidence on the other. Increasingly rigorous evaluation designs

Appendices which include:

and repeated program assessment in different situations help



References;

build an evidence base and move a program from one end of the



Resources;

continuum to another. The SIF expects programs to use our funds



Examples and Templates; and



to move towards the strong end of the continuum and have thus

A Glossary of Terms.

set an ambitious requirement that each funded program model

Information on additional available

must achieve moderate or strong evidence of impact (as defined

resources pertaining to certain guidance

here) by the end of its three to five year grant period. To achieve

sections is also included throughout the

this, grantees and subgrantees must commit significant time and

document.

resources to conduct formal evaluations of each program model

that receives SIF funding.

Through these evaluations, programs will not only assess their effectiveness, but will also build the knowledge

base for other initiatives addressing similar community issues across the nation. A key step in conducting a

rigorous SIF evaluation is the development of a SIF Evaluation Plan (SEP) that details the program model

being evaluated and describes and justifies the evaluation approach selected. This document is a version that

has been adapted for public use, based on the one provided to SIF grantees, subgrantees, and evaluators

containing guidance for developing their evaluation plan.

Developing an evaluation plan helps programs and evaluators think through the issues involved in carrying

out their evaluations. For the SIF, this plan also helps ensure a shared understanding between CNCS, funded

programs, and the evaluator about the evaluation to be conducted and the level of evidence it proposes to

provide.

CNCS sees the process of ongoing evaluation and knowledge building as a key aspect of the SIF that can

improve grantee and subgrantee programs, and also benefit other organizations throughout the nonprofit and

public sectors. SIF works closely with grantees to meet this goal by providing them with technical assistance

on the design, implementation, and monitoring of their SEPs, collecting best practices to share with the

broader social sector, and disseminating the evidence of effectiveness for each program model within the SIF.

nationalservice.gov/SIF

Evaluation Plan Guidance Page 4

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