First, a brief definition of what we mean by scalable: scaling refers to expanding your reach to larger populations. To say that evaluation is scalable means that you can use the information gained in an evaluation to apply it to a larger, different, or related sector.
This might mean that an evaluation on one aspect or program of an organization could be scaled to some relevance in other aspects of the organization.
It could also mean that an evaluation on one nonprofit could be scaled, to some extent, to have some relevance to a similar nonprofit. Let’s go back to the fictitious nonprofit, Water, Water Everywhere we discussed in a recent blog post. If that organization had a partnership with a similar water-giving organization, then Water, Water Everywhere might be able to share some of what they learned through evaluation with that other organization. This new organization could use that knowledge to shape some of their own practices until they’re able to have their own evaluation.
In cases where you might be extrapolating data and information from one nonprofit to another, be sure that there’s no copyright infringement. It’s also important that the entity sharing information owns the information used.
We’d love to know if you found this information useful for your organization.
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