Get That Grant! Part 3

with Karen Glaser

Karen Glaser (karenglaser@tc3net.com) is a proposal writer and consultant with 25 years of management experience and 30 years of paid nonprofit work experience. Her grantwriting workshops, conducted in Michigan and northwest Ohio, focus on the complete proposal process, from finding potential funding sources to saying "thank you" to benefactors.

Previously, Karen Glaser showed us how to research grant sources and put together a proposal. Now Karen addresses evaluation — an important element in presenting your case to funding sources.

You've got a great idea to improve your school's resources, help your students achieve more or enhance your staff's professional skills. A grant would set your idea on the path to certain success — or would it? That's what the granting source wants to know.

Yes, before you embark on your project, you are expected to provide an evaluation to assess your plan's weaknesses and strengths. Evaluations aren't a new concept, of course — corporate America has used them for years. Schools can likewise use basic evaluation tools to show how success will be measured.

Why is evaluation important? First, according to grantwriting expert Karen Glaser, such self-assessments, "if set up properly, provide information essential to the continuous improvement process."

Secondly, "evaluations help you discover 'surprises' — new insights or information about your process you may not have anticipated." Glaser uses as an example a teacher-training workshop normally held on weekdays after school. One day, the workshop is held on a Saturday morning instead. Are the results any different?

Also, "grant donors need to know of your success rate so they can assure their stakeholders that awarding your school grant money is the right idea."

Two Ways to Use Assessments

All evaluations must be based on measurable goals, says Glaser. There are two overall types of assessment:

1. Formative: assessments conducted during project implementation to check goals and make changes if needed.
2. Summative: assessments conducted after the project ends.

Within these categories, you can use quantitative and/or qualitative types of measurements: Quantitative measures the project's breadth; qualitative measures its depth. For example, a quantitative evaluation uses numbers, questionnaires and surveys. "But to get the story behind the numbers," says Glaser, "you need a qualitative evaluation using interviews, observations and focus groups."

Using the Saturday morning teacher training as an example, Glaser says that a quantitative evaluation may show that participants retain more when attending Saturday morning classes than they do attending weekday ones. But a qualitative evaluation would tell you why: "Through your interviews, you may learn that the training room lighting is not so good late in the afternoon," Glaser says. "Maybe the lighting is better in the morning, which is why the participants learn more."

The Tools at Hand

We evaluate things all the time: Was there too much salt in the soup? Did that movie meet my expectations? Project evaluation uses some of the same criteria. Here are some of the most effective of the assessment tools:

• Simple count: "Just a survey to see if you've reached basic goals," says Glaser. For example, if you were offering PowerPoint training for teachers, a simple count would compare the number of teachers using PowerPoint after the training versus the number before. But sometimes a "simple" count isn't so simple. If your sample includes hundreds or even thousands of participants, Glaser says a representative survey of 30 percent is sufficient to determine a simple count.
• Involvement index. Maybe your simple count has determined that you've increased the number of PowerPoint users — but how many times do they use it? Do they create their own presentations or use existing ones? An involvement index measures frequency and intensity, helping to refine your measurements.
• Observation: Do those PowerPoint-using teachers appear comfortable with the technology? Observation can provide the answer.
• Retrospective survey. Not every evaluation begins and ends with paperwork. "You can just ask participants and they can think about how it used to be and how it is now," says Glaser. "Retrospective survey is just an informal version of the simple count/involvement index."
• Anecdotes. The ultimate informal survey, anecdotes are stories coming straight from the project. You may observe the reactions of teachers in an improved classroom, or note the pleased reaction of a parent to a child's improved performance. "It's all evidence in your project's favor," notes Glaser. Just a note of caution: don't compare your classroom to another not involved in the project: "There are too many variables you can't control when using comparison groups."

Next month: Making the project budget work for you.