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Catalytic Thinking Exercise:
The Problem with Evaluation

So much has been written about program evaluation. We could probably all sing along to the hits. Funders who require evaluation, but won’t fund the work that evaluation requires. Reframing evaluation as learning vs. simply complying with a funder mandate. Counting what is easy to count vs. determining whether our efforts are making a real difference.

Most recently, the important work of the Equitable Evaluation Initiative is challenging the very nature of strategic and evaluative thinking overall.

This post is not about any of those things.

It is instead about what happens with all that learning. Here is what that tends to look like:

Food Bank A evaluates its programs, learning what worked well and what could be improved.

Food Bank B evaluates its programs, learning what worked well and what could be improved.

A and B do not share those learnings with each other, or with the small food pantries and other related groups in their community and beyond.

All that information could grow the knowledge and wisdom of the whole field of food banking. Instead, that knowledge stays sequestered inside each organization. Sometimes it isn’t even shared between programs in the same organization.

The way we think about learning and evaluation – like everything else in the nonprofit world – is rooted in a funding environment that reinforces scarcity, competition, and ultimately a spirit of compliance with the desires of those who control the funds.

That is the opposite of what is needed if we are to build strong communities.

Imagine what could be possible if every organization not only evaluated the success of their work, but then shared what they learned with all the other like-kind organizations in that community (or in their state or province, their nation, or the world). Imagine how that would elevate the wisdom of the entire field!

Imagine all the learnings from all the domestic violence organizations in your state being immediately shared with all the other entities dealing with domestic violence.

Imagine all the learnings from poverty-related organizations being shared with every other entity dealing with poverty in your region.

Imagine all the arts education programs sharing what they’ve learned with all the other arts programs.

The vision of strong, healthy, joyful communities has no room for hoarding information. If we want to create a future different from our past, we must all have as much information as possible about what works, in what situations, with what tools.

It's interesting that when we do share our wisdom, it is more often than not about the means to do our work - fundraising, board issues. The place where we rarely share what we're learning is where it counts, the end results we want to see in our communities.

Imagine what could be possible if we were routinely sharing what we’ve learned about creating those results, building wisdom upon wisdom, strength upon strength.

Try this:
Catalytic Thinking provides a pathway to building what is possible.

Question #1: Focusing on inclusion
The first set of questions in the framework focuses on identifying everyone who might benefit from those learnings.

Who will be affected by the work we are doing or thinking about doing?
Who else cares about this issue?
Whose lives are touched by the issue we are discussing?

Using the food bank example, that list might include…

• Other food banks
• Small food pantries within other organizations
• Schools
• Homeless organizations
• Literacy groups, workforce development groups

And etc.

Question #2: Focusing on possibility
Imagine what could be possible if all those groups shared what they are learning about making a difference. What could all those groups accomplish if they were learning from what each other is learning?

Imagine the power of all those groups routinely sharing what they had learned, exploring together what is possible. Imagine not just hearing about the work of your commmuity's largest food bank, but from the successes of a mutual aid group working within a small neighborhood.

Imagine roundtable discussions, bold ideas emerging throughout the room, as every organization shares what they are learning about the most important thing we can talk about - the difference we are making in people’s lives.

If the goal of all our programs is to shift conditions in our communities, sharing learnings with the entire field in your community isn’t just a “it would be nice” thing. It is absolutely necessary.

That is what evaluation could make possible. Shared learning, shared wisdom.

And funders, if you are listening, THIS is what will lift the whole field in your community. This is how your funding can make a real dent in the issues you care about. This is one more way you can move beyond the model that forces organizations to compete in order to survive.

The power of Catalytic Thinking is to reach for what is possible, moving beyond the status quo, to imagine a reality different from our present and our past. It is about time we applied those questions to the reason for evaluation in the first place – so that we all learn what it takes to create the future we want for our world.

Resources to Further Your Practice:

• READ: The organization-centric (vs. community-centric) model that guides the work of nonprofits is an impediment to making a difference. What can you do differently?
• LEARN: The Equitable Evaluation Initiative recently wrapped up its work, with findings that set the stage for all of us to make a bigger difference. Explore the framework here…
• EXPLORE: What does it take to measure what really matters – like love? Shiree Teng’s approach will open your eyes. Eyes opened here…