Building a Foundation for Organizational and Programmatic Evaluation

The Capstone team was asked by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center (“the Center”) to implement a system to measure organizational and programmatic performance. The team began by conducting an evaluation-related needs assessment of the four programmatic departments at the Center: Cultural Programs; Mental Health and Social Services; Public Policy and Government Relations; and Organizational Development, Planning and Research. Simultaneously, the team researched best practices in the field of outcome measurement, as well as the evaluation practices of other nonprofit organizations with comparable structures and/or serving similar populations. The team then developed the framework of a logic-model based evaluation system for the Center. This framework includes organizational, departmental and programmatic logic models, as well as measurable indicators for desired outcomes. As its final step, the team created a set of recommendations to guide the Center in building upon the framework and in sustaining an organization-wide evaluation initiative over time.