125 - Evaluation of a Nonprofit Capacity Building Program

Abstract Information: The Center for Public and Nonprofit Management (CPNM) at the University of Central Florida (UCF) was contracted by local county governments to conduct a Capacity Building Seminar for nonprofit organizations. This 8 week training seminar is offered for up to 40 participants from 20 nonprofit organizations (2 representatives per organization) with the goal of increasing organizational capacity and equipping them to better compete for funding. The training seminar covers essential nonprofit management topics such as: board governance, strategic planning, program evaluation, financial management, and grant writing. To participate in the program, organizations must be a 501(c)3, have a health and/or human services mission, located and providing services in the contracted county, have an annual budget of less than $500,000, and in operation for at least 1 year. The evaluation design of this program consists of several formative and summative assessments. For formative evaluation, we conduct a needs assessment, evaluate recruitment strategies, characteristics of participating agencies, assignment completion rate, attendance rate, and a mid seminar assessment. The summative evaluation consists of a 3 section mixed methods post test. This presentation covers an introduction to the program, a literature review of evaluation in capacity building programs, the evaluation design, evaluation questions, needs assessment, results, evaluation changes, recommendations, and key takeaways as a student evaluator.