Call us: 615.576.0263
picasso used a brush, we use a pen ...
We Write Grants
BCD Consulting ® 333 Arena Avenue, Nashville, TN 37203-2006
With some grant applications, mainly found in federal RFPs (Request for Proposals), grantees may budget for compliance coordinators and/or technical evaluators. BCD Consultants will contract to provide compliance coordination functions for your organization, compiling and submitting mandated program reports, and to make sure the project is running true to the manner that it described to the funder in the grant application. However, there may be times, especially with larger federal awards, that you may want to consider adding an independent technical evaluator to your project. The dollars spent may be well-worth having sound evaluative outcomes for your project.
Among others, BCD Consultants' founder has worked closely with the Center for Policy Research (CPR) on several federal projects and highly recommends them as an independent evaluation component, should one be required or desired. Technical assistance contractors and evaluators provide technical services, which may include assistance with the project design, development of data collections forms and questionnaires, analysis of all collected information and the preparation of both interim and final reports describing the operation of the project, its accomplishments, the problems encountered, and recommendations for best practices.
CPR is a private, nonprofit research agency founded in 1981 to work with public and private sector service providers to plan, develop, and test projects that improve the effectiveness and efficiency of human service agencies and the justice, health and education systems. CPR is an evaluative partner of BCD Consulting, and when required or contracted to provide grant evaluation, they will work closely with BCD on federal grant projects from inception. CPR provides comprehensive consulting, facilitation and survey research services and specializes in demonstration, evaluation, and basic research dealing with a broad array of human services.
Center for Policy Research
1570 Emerson Street
Denver, CO 80218
Phone: 303-837-1555
Fax: 303-837-1557
Most Federal agencies require some form of program evaluation among grantees. The grant evaluation component is two-fold: (1) product evaluation; and (2) process evaluation. Product evaluation addresses results that can be attributed to the project, as well as the extent to which the project has satisfied its desired objectives. Process evaluation addresses how the project was conducted, in terms of consistency with the stated plan of action and the effectiveness of the various activities within the plan. The requirements of the proposed project should be explored carefully. Evaluations may be conducted by an internal staff member, an evaluation firm or both. The applicant should state the amount of time needed to evaluate, how the feedback will be distributed among the proposed staff, and a schedule for review and comment for this type of communication. Evaluation designs may start at the beginning, middle or end of a project, but the applicant should specify a start-up time. It is practical to submit an evaluation design at the start of a project for two reasons: (1) convincing evaluations require the collection of appropriate data before and during program operations; and, (2) if the evaluation design cannot be prepared at the outset, then a critical review of the program design may be advisable.
Even if the evaluation design has to be revised as the project progresses, it is much easier and cheaper to modify a good design. If the problem is not well defined and carefully analyzed for cause and effect relationships, then a good evaluation design may be difficult to achieve. Sometimes a pilot study is needed to begin the identification of facts and relationships. Often, however, a thorough literature search may be sufficient.
Grant Evaluation: Product & Process Analysis
What Is Grant Evaluation?
