Too often non-profits and government agencies immediately begin implementing a new program or service area. They see a need with their clients or a gap in the existing services, so they elect to help meet that need. This all sounds good, right? The challenge is that there has not been enough time to complete a…
Category Archives: Evaluation
Responding to COVID-19: How to Adjust Your Data Management Plan
The COVID-19 public health crisis changed the way most of us do our work. Many of our clients, especially those who are school-based or operate afterschool programs, faced the challenge of ending their school-year programming unexpectedly. Programs are trying to find new ways to engage youth virtually and are planning for new safety restrictions for…
3 Tips to Plan Your New Program Before You Launch It
Too often we see organizations excited about receiving a new grant or starting a new program, and they jump in head first to implementation without enough planning. In this blog, we share a program planning and evaluation tool we use called the “PDSA” framework, which stands for Plan-Do-Study-Act. Have you ever started a new project…
Using Performance Indicators to Drive Impact
If you’re a Head Start organization, then you know there are several reports and check-ins required throughout the year. One mandatory item is to complete an annual performance indicator report (PIR) which includes a comprehensive list of data related to programs and services. After pulling together all of the information necessary, how many Head Start…
4 Steps to Establish Evaluation SOPs
An evaluation plan is a roadmap to help organizations validate the impact of their work. In this past blog post, we describe our four-step evaluation process. Step 2 of this process involves creating or modifying data tools and systems. When establishing evaluation systems, it is important to create standard operating procedures, or SOPs. An SOP is a…
When and How to Create a Strategic Plan
We often talk with clients who identify barriers to their success, but they don’t realize that they may need to create a strategic plan in order to accomplish their goals. In other cases, our clients do recognize their need for a new strategic plan, but they lack the expertise and capacity to develop it on…
2019 Year in Review
This year was another big year for Transform Consulting Group. In 2019, we were thrilled to once again work with a variety of clients and important causes across Indiana and Michigan. We are thankful for all that we accomplished as a team to help accelerate the impact of our clients in communities across the two…
3 Tips For Managing Program Data
Do you have a system for effectively and efficiently storing and monitoring program data? At Transform Consulting Group, we work with many clients who are required to report on program outcomes and impact, but they often lack systematic approaches to managing their data. We know data can drive program impact (check out this blog), but…
Using Data to Tell Your Story
We say we’re #datanerds at Transform Consulting Group. However, for a communication and marketing person like myself, I will admit that data intimidates me. I prefer using words and emotions to convey ideas rather than numbers and excel sheets. So, how does that translate to our data-driven work at TCG? In Nancy Duarte’s book “Data…
3 Tips to Use Your Data to Drive Program Improvement
Nationally, only about half of students who start college actually complete and earn college degrees, according to the National Student Clearinghouse. It is much worse for students who start at a community college or 2-year degree program. This means many students are increasing their debt (from student loans) and not reaping the financial benefits of…