Last week, guest contributor Megan Ondr-Cooper kicked off this four-part series on performance management by defining what it means to her organization: “the use of data about program operations and participant outcomes to learn, make decisions, and improve.” I (Sarah) am jumping in this week to share what The IllumiLab sees as the unique value[…]
The IllumiLab is excited to present a second blog series from our contributor and client Megan Ondr-Cooper from CASA of St. Louis. This summer, she shared some fun Excel tips with us. This month, she’s sharing her experience with performance management. Too often, nonprofits struggle to demonstrate meaningful impact. They collect data, but only really[…]
Two years ago in January, I wrote a blog called 6 Tips for Setting Meaningful Goals in which I admitted often falling short of following my own advice. All our work at The IllumiLab – whether it’s evaluation, performance management, planning, data management, quality improvement, or process management – is about helping organizations articulate and[…]
This is my second post in a series about Evaluability Assessment (EA). Last time, I introduced EA and its key components. Much of what we do at The IllumiLab is driven by the same motives and the same processes as Evaluability Assessment, including the articulation and assessment of the program theory. Every program has a[…]
Evaluation Isn’t One-Size-Fits-All I’ve written before about the many types of evaluation and the various kinds of questions it can help answer, many of which aren’t familiar to everyday practitioners. When most folks hear “evaluation” they think someone is asking, “Is your program effective at achieving its outcomes?” Yes, that’s one kind of question that[…]
In our last post, we looked at setting a vision for your database. Now that the vision for your organization’s database has been established and shared, what’s next? Now it’s time to engage and support your teammates in efforts to achieve your vision. Teach a Man to Fish There’s an old Chinese proverb that goes[…]
So you’ve just completed implementation on a database for your organization or inherited one that your organization has used, to some extent, for decades. Now what? Well, whether you’re starting with a clean slate or trying to breathe new life back into your system, it’s time to step back and think about a vision for[…]
This is the last of five posts in a series on how nonprofits can leverage Excel to simplify, streamline, and accelerate their data analysis. The IllumiLab is grateful to have one of our clients, Megan Ondr-Cooper of CASA St. Louis, sharing her enthusiasm and expertise with us. This time, Megan is talking about functions .[…]
Ok, maybe I oversold this a little in the title, but I got your attention! This is the fourth post in a series on how nonprofits can leverage Excel to simplify, streamline, and accelerate their data analysis. The IllumiLab is grateful to have one of our clients, Megan Ondr-Cooper of CASA St. Louis, sharing her[…]
This is the third post in a series on how nonprofits can leverage Excel to better make sense of, share, and use their data. The IllumiLab is grateful to have one of our clients, Megan Ondr-Cooper from CASA of St. Louis, sharing her enthusiasm and expertise with us. Here’s Megan . . . Today I’ll[…]