From “Ope!” to Organized: Building a Better Evaluation Strategy

For most of my career, I’ve been a traditional external evaluation consultant. You’d bring me in every few years to lead an evaluation—we’d design a rigorous approach, collect and analyze data, and make meaning of the results together. That kind of collaboration is powerful, and I still love doing it.

But after a decade in this work, I started noticing a trend—what I now call the “ope!” moments.

It goes something like this:

• I ask where the attendance data lives… and each team member shows me a different spreadsheet with similar-but-slightly-off columns. Ope.

• Someone shares their month-end ritual: printing out the spreadsheets and calling each staff member to fill in the gaps. Ope.

• Then it’s time for the grant report, and someone has 37 tabs, six open emails, and a tight deadline. Big ope.

That’s why I created the Evaluation Strategist service. It’s for organizations that want to move from reactive data chaos to a streamlined, intentional system—where one number entered in one place flows where it needs to go, and reporting becomes less panic, more peace.

Imagine this instead:

• A cohesive evaluation plan that aligns your goals, roles, and tools

• A single source of truth for data, updated in real time

• A dashboard that helps your team track what matters most

• A reporting process that’s thoughtful, on-time, and genuinely useful

Ready to do this?

Here’s what it takes:
A planning retreat with your internal team—ideally 2 hours with the people responsible for:

• Grants and reporting

• Program implementation and management

• High-level oversight (those with the bird’s-eye view)

Before the meeting:

Gather a few examples of your current data sources:

• Print out those individual spreadsheets

• Bring last month’s board summary slides

• Grab a one-pager from your latest grant report

• Anything you currently use to track, analyze, or share data

During the retreat, here’s your agenda:

1. What are we already collecting—and why?
   Use your materials to start the conversation. Write each data point on a Post-it and stick it to the wall. Then ask: what’s the purpose?

   • Board reports?

   • Internal decisions?

   • Grant reporting?

   • Community sharing?
     Duplicate as needed.

   Got Post-its with data and no clear purpose? Excellent. Put them in the parking lot and release that burden.

2. How are we collecting this data?
   Mark each data point with a symbol or icon for its method:

   • Spreadsheet?

   • Estimate?

   • Survey?

   • Observation?

   • Interview?

3. Where can we synchronize or streamline?
   Identify:

   • Repetitive data entry moments that could be automated (yes, even with simple Excel functions)

   • One-off or infrequent data needs that could be scaffolded or bundled more efficiently

4. What’s missing?
   Ask your team:

   “Where are we hearing great things about our impact—but not tracking it?”
   Let’s get those stories on the board too.

5. Document and assign

   • Take photos of your Post-it wall before you leave

   • Then build out the plan:

     • What tools are you using or need to create?

     • Who owns each task?

     • How will you train the team and audit data quality?

After the retreat:

Give it a week or two. Then report back.
Keep momentum going by reminding your team that this is about the mission—less time cleaning up messy data means more time to connect, create, and care.

Want help leading this work?

This is exactly what I do as an Evaluation Strategist. I embed with your team over 6–12 months to lead your evaluation strategy and implementation.

Deliverables include:
📌 A custom action plan
📌 Back-end data infrastructure guidance
📌 A monthly KPI dashboard
📌 An impact abstract with recommendations
📌 A facilitated data party (yes, it's as fun as it sounds)

The process includes:

• All components of my Evaluation Plan & Strategy Map

• Weekly email check-ins

• Up to two team meetings/month

• Monthly dashboard submissions

• Up to four hours/month of support (with discounted add-on hours)

• Final wrap-up session with polished deliverables

This is for you if:
You value data, want clarity, and need a partner who doesn’t just create a strategy—but makes it happen.

Ready to go from “ope!” to organized?

Let’s talk.