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REP FACT SHEET
December, 1999
Over View
The Rochester Effectiveness Partnership began in 1996 as a
two-year pilot project led by a group of funders and nonprofit agencies seeking
to determine and improve the effectiveness of their work. The project utilizes a
process called participatory evaluation. Following successful completion of the
pilot period in 1998, REP entered Phase Two, which will extend to the end of
2000.
What
is participatory evaluation?
Participatory evaluation actively engages staff in working
with a professional evaluator. Staff members learn to design, conduct and use
the results of evaluations, increasing their understanding of how programs work
and how to improve them.
Benefits of participatory evaluation: it empowers
participants; enhances problem solving and decision making skills; helps staff
learn how to assess their work continually and reshape their plans and programs
accordingly.
Who
are the partners; what roles do they
play?
Each of the partner organizations participates on the Governance Team and has one vote in all
partnership decisions.
Provider Partners are nonprofit organizations that
provide services in Greater Rochester. Each releases two staff members for
training in participatory evaluation and its application to programs. In
addition, the CEO or a leadership staff person participates on the Governance
Team. Class 1 provider partners also serve as mentors for Class 2 and 3
trainees.
PROVIDER PARTNERS: CLASS ONE
 | Girl Scouts of Genesee Valley
| Planned Parenthood of Rochester/Syr. Region
| Action for a Better Community
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PROVIDER PARTNERS: CLASS TWO
| Catholic Family Center
| Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection
| Humane Society at Lollypop Farm
| Society for the Protection & Care of Children
| Wayne ARC/Roosevelt Center Preschool
| YWCA
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PROVIDER PARTNERS: CLASS THREE
| Aesthetic Education Institute
| Cornell Cooperative Extension
| Epilepsy Foundation of Rochester/Syr. Regions
| Genesee/Orleans Council on Alcoholism & Substance Abuse
| Legal Aid Society
| Sojourner House
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Funding Partners each committed financial support for
Phase Two. They participate on the Governance Team and the Effectiveness Study
Group.
| Bruner Foundation
| City of Rochester
| Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation
| Halcyon Hill Foundation
| Monroe County
| Rochester Area Community Foundation
| United Way of Greater Rochester |
| Wegmans Food Markets
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The Assisting Partner provides expertise, information and
general counsel as needed by the partnership, and participates on the Governance
Team and the Effectiveness Study Group.
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Advertising Council of Rochester |
The Administrative Partner provides overall project
coordination, financial management and reporting, staff oversight and
operational support for the partnership.
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Rochester Grantmakers Forum |
The Evaluation Partner provide training and individual consultation for
all partners, and work with provider partners to implement evaluations and apply
the results of evaluations in their agencies.
| Anita Baker Consulting |
Goals
- Educate funders and nonprofits regarding effectiveness and evaluation.
- Enable the core group of agencies to apply skills they learn for continued
agency benefit.
- Enable a larger group of agencies to strengthen their programs using
participatory evaluation, with the original trainees serving as mentors.
- Enhance relationships between funders, providers, evaluators and others.
- Use the core group of funders as a resource for other local and non-local
funders, and for providers, regarding participatory evaluation.
- Increase the number of funders active as partners in this effort.
- Stimulate use of REP elements in one or more other regions.
Summary of Accomplishments and Lessons
Learned to Date
The REP pilot met its preliminary goals, producing positive outcomes for its
partner organizations. Five key lessons were learned during the pilot and are
guiding our work in Phase Two.
| Participatory evaluation is a viable strategy for strengthening
organizational capacity. During the pilot there were individual and program
impacts: the provider trainees were able to learn and apply the evaluation
techniques to enhance programs. There were also participatory impacts: the
organizations supported the training and evaluation efforts, began to foster
REP values throughout the organizations, and involved the trainees in
evaluation-related activities beyond the scope of REP projects. |
| Funders acknowledged that they wanted and needed to know more about
evaluation and other ways to help support their grantees. Through
participating in an Effectiveness Study Group, funders learned important
information, applied what they learned, and began to change their
grantmaking and in some cases organizational practices. |
| The broader community increased its dialogue about thoughtful evaluation,
effectiveness, and partnership. Community members identified REP as an
important vehicle in those efforts. |
| Addressing the goals of the pilot required substantial commitment of
resources including time, organizational and financial support. |
| The partnership among providers, funders, assisting organizations,
Rochester Grantmakers Forum and the lead evaluator was a critical element in
the pilot’s effectiveness. |
Challenges
While evaluation of REP (conducted by all partners in an effort to model
participatory evaluation) showed that REP met its original goals and produced
outcomes for multiple participants, it also revealed ongoing challenges.
| The evaluation training is intensive and time-consuming. Expanding
participatory evaluation practices within and across agencies will require
ongoing systematic efforts. |
| Phase 2 presents new management challenges because there are new
organizations among each of the partner groups, and differing levels of
experience with participatory evaluation among the partners. The impact of
agency size on replication efforts remains unclear. |
| As interest and capacity to conduct evaluation increases, the need for
financial support will also increase. |
| The need to align and integrate REP with other training and ongoing
monitoring efforts of key stakeholders in the community will increase. |
Phase 2 Plans
REP has identified a critical niche in Greater Rochester that was not being
filled: providing in-depth, high-quality training followed by consistent
coaching that is enduring enough to result in significant practice changes for
funders and service providers. REP enables funders, providers and evaluation
professionals to work together as partners in a unique manner. Based on REP’s
pilot results and other relevant input, Phase 2 focuses on the following
goals:
| Strengthening the work of a growing number of providers and funders in our
region. |
| Enabling original partners (both funders and service providers) to apply
their training more extensively throughout their organizations and serve as
mentors to others. |
| Creating linkages and learning opportunities with others doing similar
work. |
| Strengthening the linkages of the area’s evaluation professionals with
funders and providers. |
| Determining REP’s future beyond 2000. |
Phase 2 activities include the following.
| Involving CEO and staff of 12 new provider agencies in Class 2 and Class
3, continuing work with Class 1 providers. (Six new provider partners
have been active participants in Class 2 since January, 1999; six more began
training in September of 1999 as Class 3.) |
| Involving two or more new funding partners. (Five have joined us.) |
| Providing training on organizational assessment for any continuing
partners who want it. |
| Continuing the Effectiveness Study Group for funders; helping them work
collaboratively on streamlining the grant application process, conducting
and reporting on site visits, and other joint projects. |
| Developing and distributing a Directory of Upstate New York Evaluation
Professionals. (Completed in June of 1999.) |
| Linking local evaluation professionals with REP. |
| Conducting a training on evaluation as a leadership function for CEOs and
board chairs throughout the Rochester community (Offered 3/11/99,
attended by more than 160 funders and providers, and rated highly.) |
| Giving presentations at national and regional conferences and exploring
related efforts outside Rochester. |
| Providing 2-4 hours of free training on developing logic models to funders
and providers throughout the region. (Approximately 500 people
participated in 1999; trainings were rated favorably by participants.)
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Click here to see the
executive summary of REP's 1998 pilot period report.
Click here to see the pilot report executive summary.
Contact us for more information.
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