Search

Philanthropic foundations routinely evaluate and measure the performance of nonprofit organisations to which they distribute funds, as well as the programmes that are funded. Another aspect of philanthropic foundations’ evaluation processes, which receives comparatively little attention within academic or practitioner literature, concerns evaluations of grant applications. While the focus of philanthropic evaluation literature is mainly on ‘how evaluation is done’, the focus of this article is on ‘how evaluation is understood’. This article details perspectives from interviews with 28 managers and trustees of Public Ancillary Funds as part of a wider study on the accountability of foundations. These public foundations must fundraise from the public, and donations to them are deductible against the taxable income of the donor, resulting in a significant element of accountability to the public for their effectiveness and evaluation of the distribution of their funds. Four main themes emerged through the exploration of how evaluation is understood from the perspective of these senior foundation leaders: motivations, values, criteria and processes of evaluation.

This article charts the innovative evaluation journey an Australian nonprofit organisation, The Pyjama Foundation (PJF), has taken when designing an evaluation instrument to gain feedback from programme beneficiaries. PJF sought to develop a formal, targeted approach to hear the perspectives of children living in out-of-home care, who are involved with their Love of Learning educational programme. The design process included two focus group discussions with foster carers, programme volunteers, and child development experts. From this, an evaluation survey for children to use was developed. The survey’s underpinning conceptual framework, based on key protective factors influencing educational outcomes for children in out-of-home care, is a key contribution of this research. In addition, the design and implementation issues PJF encountered contribute insights for other nonprofit organisations and evaluators and academic knowledge towards evaluations involving children and vulnerable stakeholders. Hearing children’s views on programmes they are involved in is vital in helping to develop safe spaces for children to engage, where their thoughts are valued and opinions matter. As such, the processes detailed within this article support the development of evaluation practices that value children’s voices.

The purpose of this article is to present an evaluation design for the development of a Child Evaluation Framework (Framework). If implemented, this Framework would give four to six year old children attending early childhood services in an Australian context the capacity to impact upon the design and delivery of their early childhood service. As highlighted, the current lack of ability for children to have a voice and participate in the evaluation of their early childhood service infringes upon their rights under Article 12 of the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) which calls for the child's right to freedom of expression and information, and for participation. It is hoped that the successful development and implementation of this design would advance child participation rights and child empowerment. The design utilises the principles of deliberative democratic evaluation, and methodologies advocated within the mosaic approach to researching with young children.