Resource library · free toolkits, templates and guides

The practical library for people who build nonprofits

211 really practical toolkits, templates and guides for nonprofit and NGO leaders, and the consultants and funders who support them. A mix of the classics and newer methods.

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211 resources · 15 topics · 137 publishers · 197 free to use

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7 resources found

  • Search: evaluation methods
  • 7.2C092

    BetterEvaluation

    A free knowledge platform and community on evaluation. Its Rainbow Framework groups monitoring and evaluation methods and processes into 7 tasks. The site has pages on evaluation methods, approaches and themes, a manager's guide to evaluation, a searchable resource library, and directories of training and academic programmes. Evaluators, commissioners and programme staff use it to choose and apply methods. It is part of the Global Evaluation Initiative.

    Start hereCurrentKey online resourceFree
  • 7.2C091

    A Developmental Evaluation Companion

    A 70-page guide to developmental evaluation for people working on new or fast-changing initiatives and the funders who back them. After a foreword by Michael Quinn Patton, it has 3 sections: introducing developmental evaluation, grappling with its challenges, and designing one. It follows Gamble's earlier primer. Evaluators, innovators and funders use it to decide whether developmental evaluation fits and how to set one up.

    CurrentKey manual or guideFree
  • 10.1C129

    The State of Network Evaluation

    A framing paper for funders, network leaders and evaluators who want to assess networks for social change. It explains why networks matter, what makes them distinct, which parts of a network can be evaluated, and which designs, questions and methods fit. It closes on challenges for the field. A companion casebook from Network Impact, Evaluating Networks for Social Change, describes real funder-led network evaluations and their results.

    ClassicKey manual or guideFree
  • 7.1C085

    Understanding Impact

    A guide for charities that want to measure their impact. It shows how to turn a theory of change into a measurement plan, names 5 types of data to focus on and explains how to decide what to measure first. 7 mini-guides cover quantitative methods, qualitative data, sampling, evidence standards, research ethics, analysing and using data, and building a learning culture. It follows NPC's Theory of change in ten steps.

    CurrentKey manual or guideFree
  • 7.2C088

    Contribution analysis

    A 4-page brief that explains contribution analysis, a way to make a credible claim that a programme contributed to an observed change when an experiment or control group is not practical. It sets out how to test the programme's theory of change against evidence and consider other factors that may explain the outcome. Evaluators, programme staff and funders use it to plan and report on contribution claims.

    ClassicShort readFree
  • 7.2C090

    The 'Most Significant Change' (MSC) Technique

    The core manual for the Most Significant Change technique, a participatory monitoring method based on collecting and selecting stories of change. It sets out 10 steps, from defining domains of change and collecting stories to selecting, verifying and feeding back results, plus secondary analysis. It discusses where MSC fits, its limits and how to combine it with other methods. M&E staff and facilitators use it to run MSC.

    ClassicKey manual or guideFree
  • 7.2C089

    Outcome Harvesting

    A brief that introduces outcome harvesting, a participatory method for identifying, verifying and making sense of outcomes when cause and effect are unclear. The evaluator collects evidence of what changed and works back to assess whether and how the intervention contributed. It explains the core concepts and steps. Evaluators and teams use it for advocacy, policy and other complex work where results cannot be set in advance.

    ClassicKey manual or guideFree

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