Evaluation and Performance Measurement

Abstract

This chapter addresses the state of knowledge of evaluation practice in nonprofit organizations. It summarizes management research on this topic, identifying unanswered questions and suggesting future lines of inquiry to advance understanding. The chapter starts with a review, a brief history of evaluation’s emergence as a distinct field of knowledge before turning to its adoption by nonprofit organizations. Research on evaluation practice in nonprofit organizations shows a consistent set of challenges that affect nonprofits’ ability to do evaluation well, including lack of expertise, limited time and funding to support evaluation, and funding reporting requirements that are not aligned with organizations’ evaluation needs. Research also reveals a constant tension facing nonprofit organizations between using evaluation to learn and inform decision making versus using evaluation to prove to funders and other stakeholders that the organization is worth supporting. Despite the progress that has been made to advance our understanding of evaluation practice in nonprofit organizations, deepening our knowledge in this area will require more comparative and longitudinal research as well as qualitative research that examines how the same evaluation practices and tools are interpreted and understood in different contexts.