Understanding what works—and why—is essential for strengthening programs and increasing impact. This training introduces nonprofit professionals to the building blocks of program evaluation, from defining what evaluation is to understanding why it matters. Participants will explore culturally responsive and equitable evaluation approaches, learn how to develop a clear theory of change statement, and use logic models to visualize how activities lead to desired outcomes.

Learning Objectives:

• Define evaluation and articulate why it is a valuable tool for learning, improvement, accountability, and managing risk.

• Identify key principles of culturally responsive and equitable evaluation and describe how these can be incorporated across the evaluation cycle.

• Develop a theory of change statement that clearly connects program activities to desired outcomes.

• Understand how to construct a program logic model that outlines inputs, activities, outputs, and outcomes.