Nonprofit Program Evaluation — Love It? Hate It?

Who likes to have their work evaluated? I heard an interview with Chari Smith, a specialist in nonprofit program evaluation. I like her perspective. Some of the points she made (none of these are direct quotes):

1. A lot of people who run nonprofit programs wince at the idea of program evaluation. Or they flat-out hate it. Mention “program evaluation” and they tense up. Why? Because they see it as judgemental and punitive. Somebody’s going to come in, apply their fancy evaluation methods, and tell us we’re not doing a good job.