When we say we’re making a difference, changing the world, and inspiring innovation: what do we mean and how do we know it? When you’re speaking to partners, investors, clients, or community members, you need a better answer than “We just are.” Frankly, a good answer to that question helps you out just as much as everyone else. Evaluation provides a means to help you articulate what you’re doing, how well you’re doing it, and what to do next.

Let’s put it another way: suppose you are to hypothetically invest — time, ideas, money, reputation, enthusiasm — in one of two enterprises. One of these enterprises has an evaluative process of self-reflection built into its operations, collected data on its operations' process and its impact on the world while the other has none of that. Which one would you choose?

Evaluation is not just something done for funders, it is a means of showing the world that you really are making changes in it by providing evidence of that effect. Some of the barriers to evaluation are based on misconceptions like it being all about numbers or that the work in social innovation is just too complex to evaluate. Both are not true. 

Here’s 10 tips to get you thinking evaluatively about your work: 

1. Framing your goal is critical. If you seek to offer the world “more” of something or an “improvement” on something, you need a means of making that comparison using the same metrics— otherwise, you’re comparing apples to oranges.
2. If you are comparing apples to oranges, consider what (metaphorical) metrics matter to you. Is it crunchiness, tartness, or sweetness? If you can’t compare metrics, you’re asking the wrong question.
3. You might not have a direct comparison since innovation is about doing something new to produce value. Is there something close? Indirect comparisons might be the way to go.
4. Maybe numbers don’t work. Observations, interviews, even a mood board with symbols like smiley faces next to statements can be useful in assessing the quality of experiences and services you offer.
5. If you want to claim you’re better/ bigger/ more awesome than your peers, you need a standard to base that on. Start by connecting with your networks and researching your industry to see what the standards for success are.
6. Context matters. Say 20 people attended your last workshop. If you had 5 at the one before, great! If you had 50, maybe not. But if on the day of your workshop the subway was shut down, there was bad weather, and half of your invitations had the wrong date on them — 20 attendees looks much different. Pay attention not only to your own program or product, but to the context of its use.
7. Consider ways to build evaluation into your offerings. If you offer training, quick check-ins throughout the day or periodic short-burst polls may be better than keeping people afterwards to fill out a survey or to do a group interview.
8. Evaluate your values. Focus on what’s meaningful to you unless you’re required by a funder, investor, partner, or profession to collect particular data. A good evaluation consultant can provide you with ideas about what to focus on based on your needs now and in the future.
9. Evaluation requires resources like time and money, but more importantly, it requires focus and willingness to pay attention. Consider what you want to give, and what you want to get back from your evaluations.
10. A good evaluation gets you the right contextual information with the available resources. It can be external and professionally designed, or done in-house by you and your team: the key is that they’re systematic and not haphazard.

Evaluation need not be a scary word. Collecting the right data about what you do helps you make strategic decisions, serves as a marketing tool, and allows you to amplify what you’re doing well and modify the things you’re not. So, next time someone asks what kind of difference you’re making— you can back up your answer.

* This post was adapted and expanded from an earlier on on the Centre for Social Innovation's community blog.