Evaluating Community Benefit Programs
As community benefit programs become more strategically planned and more highly visible, community benefit leaders are being asked important questions by their boards, executive leadership, funders and their communities:
- Are community benefit programs accomplishing what they set out to do?
- Should funding for these programs be continued?
- Are these programs making a difference in the community?
Evaluating Community Benefit Programs, a new resource from the Catholic Health Association, will help find answers to these questions by giving community benefit professionals a structured process for evaluation, where information is systematically collected, analyzed and put to use.
What's In This Resource?
The resource applies the knowledge and experience of public health program evaluation to community benefit programs. It provides a comprehensive overview of program evaluation, including easy to use tools, expert advice, links to helpful resources and examples from the field.
Key Concepts for Community Benefit Program Evaluation.
Discusses key concepts critical to conducting effective evaluations including the purpose of program evaluation, how evaluation differs from research, why and how evaluation scope and design will vary, the differences between prospective and retrospective evaluations, and the two types of program evaluations — impact and implementation.
Building Blocks of Program Evaluation.
Provides an overview of key program components used in program planning and evaluation. The components include the identification of program theory, goals, objectives, indicators and logic model.
Steps in Community Benefit Program Evaluation.
Provides an overview of the basic steps and tools for program evaluation.
Step 1. Select Program to Evaluate
Step 2. Get Stakeholders on Board
Step 3. Plan the Management of the Evaluation
Step 4. Determine What to Evaluate
Step 5. Review Program Components
Step 6. Select Evaluation Design
Step 7. Collect Information
Step 8. Analyze and Interpret Information
Step 9. Communicate and Share Information
Step 10. Put Findings into Action
Evaluating Other Community Benefit Components.
Guidelines on how to evaluate various components of community benefit such as the organization's overall community benefit strategy, charity care policies and procedures, cash and in-kind services, subsidized services, advocacy programs and collaboratives.