While the thought of “evaluation” can be daunting, and even downright intimidating for many domestic violence and sexual assault programs, there are many good reasons to evaluate the job we are doing. The most important reason, of course, is to understand the impact of programs and practices on the lives of survivors and their children to build upon those efforts that survivors say are helpful to them and stop putting time and resources into efforts that are not helpful or relevant to them. Evaluation is also important because it provides “hard evidence” to present to funders, policymakers, and allied organizations, encouraging them to continue and increase the resources available to support effective programs and approaches.
The materials and tools within this section were selected to provide practical considerations and strategies for approaching evaluation in domestic and sexual violence organizations. The resources have been organized into four broad categories.