Why am I paying for an evaluator?

The simplest, but highly unsatisfactory, answer might be, "Because you have to." Certain grant competitions require that a fixed percent of the budget be spent on evaluation. Others don't mandate a particular amount but require you to include evaluation in your budget. There is actually a reason you are required to have an evaluator. The government is smarter than you think. (No, honest, I'm not kidding.) You have received significant funds from tax money or donations collected by your friends, neighbors and fellow taxpayers. It is in nearly everyone's best interest to see that the money is spent on programs that have the intended effect. If you are going to increase volunteerism, reduce drug abuse, raise academic achievement or any one of a number of other worthwhile goals, there is a public interest in seeing whether the funds you were given met those goals. Also, it is beneficial to know just how you did it so that other programs can replicate your success.

What are you going to do for me?

Spirit Lake Consulting, Inc. is firmly committed to a participatory evaluation model. We usually work with clients from the beginning of a project, often in the earliest stages of proposal writing to the completion of a project five years later. Generally, we begin with an evaluation design before the project starts.We will identify your goals and MEASURABLE OBJECTIVES. "Improve employment outcomes for people with disabilities is a goal." A measurable objective is, "Over the five years, 195 tribal members with disabilities will become competitively employed and maintain employment for at least six months." We'll help you identify realistic objectives based on experience of similar projects. Stating a very high target in your proposal is not a good idea if you won't be able to meet it. We'll identify measures for your objectives. If you are going to improve literacy skills, what are you going to use? Grades? Teacher ratings? Test scores? If so, what test? We'll point out problems before they happen, for example, the test you have chosen may require a psychologist to administer and take two hours per student. Do you have that kind of money in your budget? Probably not.

My project officer told me that we are 180 days behind on our annual evaluation report and if I don't have it in within thirty days they will freeze our funds. Can you help me?

If you are three years into your proposal and your project officer is telling you that your funds will be cut if you don't have that report in within thirty days - go ahead and contact us. We have helped a lot of worthwhile projects get back on track and keep their funding. We can create a database for you, complete data fields based on client records and all types of other services that are both accurate and creative. The first hour of consultation is free. After that, we will have a good idea of what needs to be done and what it will cost. Depending on the time of year, we may not have staff available, but we will be happy to refer you to another firm. (Yes, we will refer you to a competitor. Why not?) We hope you understand that we have many clients with whom we have had professional relationships for many years and have pre-existing commitments to them. On the other hand, we know all about the situations that happen in life - turnover among directors, board members that cannot agree, facilities that were not available on schedule, and on and on. We'd be delighted to work with you and hope you do email us - that is usually fastest, but, if you want to talk to a live person, call Dr. AnnMaria De Mars (310) 717-9089.

Are you here to find out what we are doing wrong and shut our project down?

In a word - NO. If you are sitting in your office smoking cigarettes and haven't seen a client in three years, we will report that. However, far more often we find projects are doing more than they have documented or reported. We really do want to help you succeed. We strongly recommend you contact us early in your project. We conduct regular evaluations that will tell you if you are not on target to meet your objectives and provide suggestions on what steps to take to get back on track.