Writing Winning Grants
The Winning Grant Application - Building in Effective Program Evaluation
FASTEN Network - One of the limitations of otherwise good
grant proposals is a weak evaluation plan. To respond to this need
among community- and faith-based initiatives, the FASTEN Network
has developed a program evaluation tool called "Outcome-Based
Evaluation: A Training Toolkit for Programs of Faith." This
comprehensive, step-by-step tutorial guides program directors through
a logical process of identifying program goals, establishing measurement
indicators, and collecting data to determine how successful the
program was in achieving its targets. The toolkit focuses on a hypothetical
example that can be adapted to assess real-life programs. It includes
worksheets and forms faith- and community-based organizations can
use to plan their own evaluation process. To download this tool,
go to: http://www.fastennetwork.org/Uploads/
2F3325EC-7630-425B-8EDF-847AAA69BE76.pdf. You may also access
it by visiting the FASTEN Web site at http://www.fastennetwork.org.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) - A division of the Office of Justice Programs, BJA is committed to the importance of program evaluation and to developing and enhancing evaluation capabilities at the State and local levels. Evaluation results provide policy makers and program managers with information for future program development and can be used to modify and improve existing programs. BJA's Evaluation Web site is designed to provide State administrative agency staff, criminal justice planners, researchers and evaluators, and local practitioners with a variety of resources for evaluating criminal justice programs. For evaluation resources, go to http://www.bja.evaluationwebsite.org.
Innovation Network's Evaluation Resource Center - Visit this Web site designed to improve nonprofit results by building evaluation capacity. Its Evaluation Resource Center is a collection of resources designed to help users quickly find the best and most relevant information about evaluation on the Internet. Currently, the Evaluation Resource Center is subdivided into four main categories - general guides, logic models, data collection, and data analysis. Visit the Web site at http://www.innonet.org/resources/evaluation_resource_center.cfm.
The Government Performance Results Act (GPRA) - The mission of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993 is to improve the confidence of the American people in the capability of the Federal Government by holding all Federal agencies accountable for achieving program results. What does this mean for you as a Federal grantee? It means that your funding agency will require you to report on progress and outcomes of your funded project. The data you provide will be pooled with results from all other grantees participating in your program. These pooled (or aggregate) data will become part of your Federal funder's Annual Performance Report to Congress. Data from your carefully planned and carried out program evaluation will be part of aggregate data that support GPRA efforts.
Examples of GPRA forms can be found at http://www.csat-gpra.samhsa.gov. While this may not be the form that your grant will use to collect data, you can download actual GPRA forms in the Data Collection/Tools/Instructions section of the Web site. The Web site also contains information on the frequency of GPRA data collection (see the Frequently Asked Question document in the Data Collection/Tools/Instruction).
Share and enhance your knowledge of grant proposal writing by participating in discussions with other potential grantees on the following topics:
To facilitate your participation in these discussions, please review the ARC Discussion Forums Rules and Policies and the Tools for Effective Web Communication.
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