Get On Board: Securing Stakeholder Buy-In

From the beginning of the planning phases of a program, stakeholder buy-in is essential. Program success is unlikely unless the community is drawn in from the start. Once stakeholders are on board with a program’s ideas, they are likely to remain involved, supporting the program over its lifetime.

The same is true in program evaluation. Stakeholders are valuable assets in evaluation planning, offering:

Assistance in decision-making about continued and prospective funding;
Perspective that helps the program learn, grow, and improve, and
Experience that informs program replication at other sites or organizations.

Stakeholders fall into three levels of program participation or involvement:

Primary stakeholders are typically major decision makers within a program, and are often the motivators behind an evaluation effort. They are often program staff, supervisors, senior managers, and funders.

Secondary stakeholders have less contact with the administrative side of the program, but are still important to the evaluation effort. They include program participants and their families; direct service staff; and possibly other professionals providing subsequent services to program particiopants.

Tertiary stakeholders are more distant but are likely to be interested in evaluation findings -- for example, potential program participants, the general public, or members of the same profession.

Keep stakeholders informed throughout the life of the program, including during the evaluation planning, implementation, and reporting phases. Unsure of how and when to involve stakeholders? Not sure how to obtain their feedback without placing a burden on them? Here are some tested tips for engaging stakeholders in an evaluation effort:

Before the evaluation:

Consult with primary stakeholders about major decisions regarding the evaluation design and activities.
Get their input on your logic model and evaluation plans.
Make sure there is agreement on program outcomes across all stakeholders.

During the evaluation:

Ensure that everyone at all levels understands why the evaluation is important, and what their contribution is. For example, you may need to rely on stakeholders to assist you in data collection; it is important for them to understand their role before any evaluation activities get underway.
Let primary and secondary stakeholders know about upcoming evaluation activities, and give them progress reports. You may want to offer an interim report, a program newsletter, update emails, or conference calls to keep them informed.
Solicit stakeholder feedback about the progress of your evaluation and preliminary findings.

After the evaluation:

Tell your primary and secondary stakeholders how things went, both with the program and with the evaluation.
It's a great idea to follow up an evaluation report with a phone call or an in-person meeting, especially with primary stakeholders.
Focus discussion on what the program has learned and how it intends to grow and improve, rather than just reporting on outcomes.
Invite stakeholders to brainstorm ideas for on how to strengthen your program based on the evaluation findings.
Finally, send out a final evaluation report to all three levels of stakeholders upon the program's completion.

The people who are directly affected by a program, and have the most invested in its success, are the program's most valuable resource, and they add tremendous value to any evaluation effort. When data is collected and decisions are made by program stakeholders, evaluation results become practical tools for change.