Before this fellowship, I understood the value of evaluation in theory. After spending a year working alongside ImpactED on evaluations for the Philadelphia Zoo and Vetri Community Partnership, I now see evaluation as one of the most powerful fundraising tools a nonprofit can have.
As a fundraiser with more than 15 years of experience across organizations of varying sizes and missions, I have learned that strong fundraising is ultimately about trust. Donors and funders want to know about the impacts of their investments. Evaluation can help organizations build that trust by providing evidence of success, demonstrating impact, and showing a commitment to continuous learning and improvement.
Evidence of success
A program may have all the right ingredients: a compelling mission, thoughtful design, and committed staff, but until you see it put into practice, you won’t know whether the recipe works. Evaluation can help nonprofits understand whether a program is doing what it set out to do which can strengthen “the ask” they make to funders. Without evaluation data, it can be hard to confidently say, “This works, and here is why.”
For fundraisers, this matters because funders are not just investing with good intentions; they are investing in the likelihood that their dollars will lead to meaningful outcomes. Evaluation can give you the evidence you need to show that your program is effective, that participants are benefiting, and that your organization has a clear understanding of what program success looks like. It turns your pitch from “we believe this is making a difference” into “we know this is making a difference, and here is the data showing it.”
Illustrating impact
In addition to demonstrating that a program is achieving its goals, evaluation can also help tell a fuller story about the impact it's having. Numbers and stories are most powerful when they work together. Quantitative data can demonstrate scale and outcomes: how many people were served, what changed over time, or how participants progressed. Qualitative data provides context and meaning by capturing participants' experiences, perspectives, and voices. In essence, numbers can demonstrate that 80% of participants reported improved skills while a participant's story can provide context of what that actually looked like.
For fundraisers, this combination is powerful. Funders want to see evidence-based results, but they also want to understand why those results are meaningful. Evaluation can help organizations tell a more complete story - one that is both data-informed and human-centered. It allows you to communicate your impact clearly and compellingly while demonstrating your value to the communities you serve.
Continuous Learning & Improvement
Strong evaluation practices can also signal to funders and communities served that the organization is committed to continuous improvement. The nonprofits that stand out the most are not necessarily those that claim perfection. Rather, they are organizations that understand their goals, track their progress, and use data to reflect on their challenges and strengthen their work over time. Funders want to know that an organization holds itself accountable and is willing to learn from its experiences.
For fundraisers, this can make a proposal much more compelling. Instead of asking a funder to support a program based only on need or mission alignment, evaluation allows you to share that the program has evidence behind it, that the organization knows where it is succeeding, and that there is a clear rationale for future funding. It also helps identify opportunities for growth, which can be especially useful when asking for renewed or expanded support. In other words, evaluation helps answer the funder’s underlying question: “Why should we invest in this organization, this program, and this moment?” Most importantly, it shows the communities you serve that you are committed to understanding their needs and goals, and continuously improving your work to meet them.
In all my years of fundraising, I have never felt more confident or empowered than I have after this fellowship experience. It helped me see evaluation in a new way: not simply as a matter of numbers, reporting, or compliance, but as a powerful tool for understanding and communicating impact. The stories and lived experiences behind the data are what reveal the real impact an organization is having.
Evaluation is one of the most valuable investments an organization can make - not only for the organization's programming but also the communities it serves. It helps nonprofits gather evidence of success, tell a clearer story about their impact, and continuously learn and improve their work. Each of these is essential for building fruitful funding relationships and deepening connections with the communities you serve. If you are interested in learning more about ImpactED’s evaluation services and how they can help your organization understand and communicate its impact, reach out to them at impact-ed@sas.upenn.edu.
Take it from me: good evaluation doesn't just measure your impact, it helps tell the story behind it.
