Efforts Lead to New Ways of Doing Business

To help children's advocacy centers measure their impact, The Duke Endowment in 2004 contracted with Innovation Network in Washington, D.C., to guide three dozen North Carolina and South Carolina centers through an evaluation process.

Insights

After the measurement project ended, participants were left with several key insights, including:

Different Levels of Evaluation Experience

Varying levels of evaluation experience among the children's advocacy centers may have caused frustration regarding the pace of the workshops. According to a final report by Innovation Network, centers with little to no experience conducting evaluations often felt "behind" or left out of the discussion. Those with more evaluation experience felt the process was more effective than those with less experience. It may have been worthwhile to spend more time at the beginning analyzing the centers' evaluation capacity.

Gathering Information was Tricky

As with any new procedure, the Innovation Network report says, the centers faced a few challenges with data collection. Several centers felt overwhelmed by the amount of work involved. Some asked for grant money to pay for an extra staff member, but others didn't. In hindsight, it would have been good to help them figure out their staffing needs upfront.

Impact

New Opportunities and Improvement

• Many of the participating centers say the evaluation project has helped them do their jobs better. New information pointed out gaps and opportunities for improvement; it helped them move beyond reporting just numbers to answer the "so what?" question. According to a report by Innovation Network, one center discovered that a large portion of reported cases at local agencies were not being referred to them, so they realized they needed to strengthen agency buy-in. Another agency spotted an inefficiency in its service. "They learned that their turn-around time between the initial referral and first visit was not optimal," the report says. The center "made the appropriate adjustments to rectify the problem."
• The centers also say they're learning to use the new evaluation data in grant requests to other funders.

Demonstrating Success

Through the evaluation project, the centers were able to collect data that showed how well they helped families and collaborated with local responders. The results: 95 percent of non-offending caregivers reported that services received were seamless and integrated; 87 percent of non-offending caregivers reported that they felt more able to protect and support their children after receiving services at a center; 87 percent of children had reduced trauma symptoms.

In November 2008, trustees of The Duke Endowment approved making children's advocacy centers in North Carolina and South Carolina ongoing grantees of the Endowment's child care program area.

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Associate Director of Child Care
704.969.2117