Equity in Program Evaluation: Equity as a Measure in Program Evaluation

Changes to equity and inclusion mean, not only including, but also valuing, and sharing power with, community members and stakeholders of various backgrounds. In addition to race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender identity, physical and mental abilities, as well as where they intersect, should be represented throughout the entire evaluation process. Countless surveys make assumptions about communities without knowing the culture of the community. This study explores where equity does and does not exist, in the process of creating and conducting the evaluations that are used to measure the successful execution of nonprofit programs. The inclusion of program participants and stakeholders has been shown to increase program participation and stakeholder buy-in. The purpose of this study was to examine the evaluation process of nonprofit human service, organizations, in the central Virginia area to explore where equity does and does not exist, in the process of creating and conducting the evaluations. The methodology undertaken by the researcher was a mixed-method research design. The analysis of the data allowed us to understand if the organizations conducted any type of evaluations, who participated in the design process if funding was available specifically for the evaluation process, the organization’s capacity to perform evaluations, specifically equitable and inclusive evaluations, views on stakeholder engagement, and how the collected data was used