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Program Evaluation Capacity for Nonprofit Human PROGRAM EVALUATION CAPACITY FOR NONPROFIT HUMAN SERVICES ORGANIZATIONS: AN ANALYSIS OF DETERMINING FACTORS Salvatore Alaimo Submitted to the faculty of the University Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Philanthropic Studies, Indiana University October 2008 Accepted by the Faculty of Indiana University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. __________________ David A. Reingold Ph.D., Chair ______________________________ Debra Mesch Ph.D. Doctoral Committee ______________________________ David Van Slyke Ph.D. Date of Defense July 11, 2008 _____________________________ Patrick Rooney Ph.D. ii © 2008 Salvatore Alaimo ALL RIGHTS RESERVED iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research would not have been possible without the support of numerous people and organizations. The Center on Philanthropy deserves special recognition for having the vision and earnestness to take a risk and invest in a new interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in Philanthropic Studies at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), which I am a proud member of the first cohort of seven students. Robert Payton; Dr. Eugene Tempel, Executive Director; Dr. Dwight Burlingame, Associate Executive Director and Director of Academic Programs; Dr. Leslie Lenkowsky, Director of Graduate Studies; the center’s administrative staff and Board of Directors; and the entire philanthropic studies faculty are recognized for getting this new program off the ground and ensuring it will be continually supported. My six cohorts have been a source of support throughout this Ph.D. program, and we continue to exchange information and moral support today. These friendships have impacted my work and my life, and I hope we will continue to be connected for years to come. They are a large part of why I feel Indianapolis is my second home. The majority of my research expenses were self-supported; however Jill Kramer and The Lumina Foundation are recognized for contributing a generous grant to support some of these expenses. The Center on Philanthropy and Patrick Rooney, Director of Research, and the IUPUI Graduate Student Organization are also recognized for their interest in and financial support for this research. I want to thank my dissertation committee members, Dr. David Reingold, Dr. Debra Mesch, Dr. David Van Slyke, and Dr. Patrick Rooney. Their wealth of knowledge, insight and guidance were critical to the success of this research. iv Special thanks go to my cousin Thomas Alaimo for providing free flights to Indianapolis, and to Hank and Julie Niec for allowing me to stay at their home numerous times and being such gracious hosts. My former employer the Girl Scout Council of Northwest Georgia and former CEO Harriet Hessam deserve special recognition for providing a career opportunity in evaluation that sparked my interest in this topic. This research would not have been possible without the people who volunteered their time as anonymous interview participants. The case studies were possible thanks to the transparency and cooperation from Pat Showell, Chris Valley, and the staff and board at Families First; Dr. Peter Lyons from Georgia State University; Beth Vann, and the staff and board at Decatur Cooperative Ministry. Many people in both the metro Atlanta and Indianapolis areas were responsible for providing meeting space, expertise, opportunities to present my research which resulted in valuable feedback from audiences, and for contributing to the pre-testing of interview instruments. These contributions enabled this work to be successfully completed. They include: Dr. Brian Vargus, Laura Littlepage, Fran Huels and the staff at the Joseph and Matthew Payton Philanthropic Studies Library, the staff at the IUPUI University Library, Brenda Burk at the Ruth Lilly Special Collections and Archives, the staff at IUPUI’s Research Compliance Administration, the American Evaluation Association (AEA), the discussants on EvalTalk, the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), the Atlanta Area Evaluation Association (AAEA), the Indiana Evaluation Association (IEA), the American Association for Public Opinion (AAPOR), the Academy of Management, GuideStar, Jan Diggins at Citizens Gas, Sarah Cole at Emmis Communications, Robert Eger at v Children’s Restoration Network, Rhett Tanner at Senior Citizen Services of Metropolitan Atlanta, Donovan Quary of the Make a Difference Foundation, Carlton Sapp at Gwinnett County Public Schools, Pattie Johnson and the Foundation Center staff in Atlanta, Wesley Simms at the Indiana Grantmakers Alliance, Alice McColgin at Indianapolis Power & Light Company, Kendy Smith at Eli Lilly and Company, Jill Wohlford at the Lumina Foundation, Janice Robinson at the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta, Boris Volkov and Jean King from the University of Minnesota, Lynne Ensminger at the Blue River Community Foundation, Joanne Carman from the University of North Carolina- Charlotte, Kim Fredericks from Indiana State University, Deena Murphy-Medley at National Development and Research Institutes, Inc., Don Compton, Tom Chapel, Maureen Wilce and Kai Young at the Centers for Disease Control, Jeff Brudney from Cleveland State University (formerly from the University of Georgia), Al Roberts from Syracuse University, and Dennis Young from Georgia State University. Special thanks go to Ting-Ting Liang, Molly Neu, Jennifer Wewers, Telesa Wilson, Dorothy Goodwin, Alice Meyers, Tangela Love and Judy Headrick for their assistance with transcribing tapes of the interviews. I appreciate the references and sources for this research, as well as continual words of encouragement from my lifelong friend Steve Owens. My parents, Thomas and Angie Alaimo, continue to provide the strong support and encouragement they have provided all of my life. Their support has not only contributed to the success of this research, it also has contributed to who I am as a person. I hope to retain these values the rest of my life, as I continue to grow as a person and expand my intellectual endeavors. I continue to thank my life partner Lee Ann Harvey for her ongoing support throughout the vi tenure of this research, especially during the first two years of separation for the PhD program’s coursework. In spite of many hours spent on this research and away from her, she encouraged me to focus, prioritize my time and always keep the end in sight. vii ABSTRACT Salvatore Alaimo PROGRAM EVALUATION CAPACITY FOR NONPROFIT HUMAN SERVICES ORGANIZATIONS: AN ANALYSIS OF DETERMINING FACTORS The increasing call for accountability combined with increasing competition for resources has given program evaluation more importance, prominence and attention within the United States nonprofit sector. It has become a major focus for nonprofit leaders, funders, accrediting organizations, board members, individual donors, the media and scholars. Within this focus however there is emerging attention and literature on the concept of evaluation capacity building to discover what organizations require to be able to effectively and efficiently evaluate their programs. This study examines this topic within the environment and stakeholder relationship dynamics of nonprofit human service organizations. A multi-stakeholder research approach using qualitative interviews of executive directors, board chairs, program staff, funders and evaluators, as well as two case studies, is employed to provide insight into the factors that determine an organization’s evaluation capacity. The overarching goal of this research is to impart this information to stakeholders interested in program evaluation, by analyzing elements for capacity beyond the more common, narrow scope of financial resources and evaluation skills. This purposeful approach intends to broaden our understanding of evaluation capacity building to encompass developing the necessary resources, culture, leadership and environments in which meaningful evaluations can be conducted for nonprofit human service programs. viii Results indicated that effective evaluation capacity building requires more than just funds, personnel and expertise. Some of the important factors that impacted this process included leadership; value orientations; congruence among stakeholders for their perceptions of evaluation terms and concepts; resource dependency; quality signaling; stakeholder involvement and understanding of their role in program evaluation; organizational culture; organizational learning; personal preferences; and the utilization of available evaluation tools. This study suggests that stakeholders interested in effectively building capacity to evaluate programs should be cognizant of these political, financial, social, intellectual, practical, structural, cultural and contextual implications. David A. Reingold Ph.D., Chair ix TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables .........................................................................................................................xiii List of Figures........................................................................................................................xiv Chapter One The Importance of Studying Program Evaluation.....................................................1 Significance of the Study...........................................................................................1 Statement of the Problem to be Studied ....................................................................3
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