Web 2.0 and measuring effectiveness in the social sector

As new Web 2.0 tools continue to bleed into the social sector, cutting edge evaluation tools are also on the rise. A variety of new software programs and online services are pushing the envelope in an attempt to help social benefit organizations better assess themselves and be measured more effectively by clients, supporters, and evaluators.

Some of the most interesting evaluation tools making the rounds include:

1. Orgnet offers visual organizational and community mapping software to help analyze complex social networks and determine important relationships. Everything from identifying appropriate sports team leaders to mapping terrorist networks.

2. Zoomerang and Survey Monkey are online tools for customizable surveys conducted over the Internet.

3. Innovation Networks and their free Point K tool help social benefit organizations evaluate their internal effectiveness and plan for appropriate organizational change.

4. Certi.org offers some interesting conflict and emergency planning and evaluation tools. A little outdated, but some good links to a variety of global projects and resources.

5. Helpalot, a project still under development, allows anyone to list and network with others regarding their charity affiliations and to offer reviews of social benefit organizations online.

This discussion will highlight on some of the latest tools and processes for evaluation – the good, bad, and ugly. Novices and experts alike are encouraged to share opinions and experiences relative to the following four questions:

1) What are some of the latest and greatest social sector evaluation tools you are familiar with and which ones would you recommend (in a Web 2.0 context)?

2) What new processes and trends are emerging around the technology that is significant and worth paying attention to?

3) What are the key evaluation needs and challenges of your organization/venture or those you are familiar with? Are they (or can they be) adequately addressed by emerging Web tools and processes?

4) If you could build the ideal online evaluation tool, what would it be able to do for social benefit organizations and their constituents?

Please share your thoughts!

Patrick O'Heffernan - Oct 10, 2006 5:17 pm (#1 Total: 11)


I have used Zoomerang mumerous times and love it. The free for small non-profits aspect is great for this community. the only drawback is that, even though they are in my neighborhood and my organizationis a paying customer, I have never been able to get thorugh to the two women who share the top job to talk about inviting them to a fund raiser in which we would plug zoomerrang. Oh well, a great program

Patrick O'Heffernan - Oct 10, 2006 5:19 pm (#2 Total: 11)


forgopt to say that...very helpful

plamb - Oct 10, 2006 8:32 pm (#3 Total: 11)
Paul Lamb

Thanks Patrick! yeah, Zoomerang is a good tool Survey Monkey is also pretty good, I have found, but limits you to only 10 questions if you want to conduct a survey for free.

Cheers,

Paul

Julius - Oct 11, 2006 3:29 am (#4 Total: 11)

Thanks for mentioning Helpalot. I just found this site (social edge), immediately bookmarked it and signed up :).

Kaye Swafford - Oct 13, 2006 1:45 pm (#5 Total: 11)

I am looking for a mapping program like the one you used to produce that map image at the top of this page. I work with a non-profit that has a nationwide eVolunteer force. A US map that can be easily updated by zip codes would be fantastic, as would a world wide map  updated by city/country.

Do you have any suggestions where I can find such a gem?

Thanks, Kaye Swafford

Julius - Oct 14, 2006 7:18 am (#6 Total: 11)


To Kaye, you can use Google maps or Yahoo maps and try to build something for yourself:

http://www.google.com/apis/maps/

http://developer.yahoo.com/maps/

You might try to play with Drupal, an open source content management system that can have these maps integrated. But it still would require some real work and expertise. You could also make use of sites that have these maps integrated in their design like:

http://www.frappr.com

Where you can get your own page and people can link with you with a location. For instance (the not so heavilly used, but that's more my own fault for not promoting it): http://www.frappr.com/helpalot

Hope it helped

Patrick O'Heffernan - Oct 14, 2006 9:56 am (#7 Total: 11)


Nice, clean programminglangauge. Site5 and other hosts now run special teams just to host Ruby websites because so many oprogrammers like it. Drupal is a great open-source content management system, but I find Ruby much easier to work with.

As far a map goes, take a look at the map on http://www.thepeoplechoose.org. If you like it, email me here through my blog (Patrick O on the Edge ...above on this page) and I will direct you to the progammer who wones and leses the rights to it. It was orginally created for dailykos.

plamb - Oct 15, 2006 2:26 pm (#8 Total: 11)
Paul Lamb

Julius and Patrick: thanks for the great mapping resources. Some other interesting  work on community mapping using visual representations of various and overlapping data sets like income levels, housing, and economic development has also been done in recent years. check out http://www.policylink.org/EDTK/Mapping/

Cheers,

Paul

plamb - Oct 15, 2006 2:42 pm (#9 Total: 11)
Paul Lamb

With regard to one of the original questions posed around evalutation processes and trends, here is an interesting Fall 2006 piece in the Stanford Social Innovation Review that outlines some of the current evaluation challenges faced by social benefit organizations and funders, called "Drowning in Data".

The article also includes a listing of the language common in the world of evaluation these days:

Effectiveness – How well a program produces its intended outcomes in the real world

Efficacy – How well a program produces its intended outcomes under ideal conditions, such as in a laboratory

Evaluation – The systematic assessment of the value, merit, significance, quality, or state of affairs of a program, product, person, policy, proposal, or plan

Formative Evaluation – An evaluation that takes place while a program is ongoing and that provides feedback for improvement

Impacts – Outcomes proven to be caused by a program

Logic Model – A model of how a program will contribute to its specified outcomes

Outcomes – Changes in individuals, organizations, communities, policies, or governments

Outputs – Tangible products that result from a program’s activities – such as the number of brochures distributed or the number of people served – that lead to intended outcomes

Process Evaluation – An evaluation of the activities and events that occur as a program is delivered

Summative Evaluation – An evaluation conducted at the end of a program that determines whether the program met its goals

Theory of Change – Assumptions about the nature of a social problem, what its solution is, and how particular actionswill lead to the solution

Patrick O'Heffernan - Oct 17, 2006 9:06 am (#10 Total: 11)


use it with my volunteers at The People Choose after the elections to develop lessons learned and determine if we will privitize and how to structure the business plan. I have a volunteer who has creted a number of successful start-ups who write the biz plan adn this will be useful for him.

Thaks Paul.

Julius - Oct 20, 2006 6:49 am (#11 Total: 11)

Thanks Paul, for the "Drowning in Data" link.