Planning for Success: Budget for Research and Evaluation in 2012

It’s the time of year when many animal groups are planning their budgets for 2012. According to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, nonprofits should devote five to seven percent of their program/campaign budgets to conducting evaluation. If you spend less than five percent, you might not be doing enough to determine your impact. If you spend a lot more than seven percent, you might be able to find a way to do research more efficiently.

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In its very useful Evaluation Handbook, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation says that evaluation costs five to seven percent of a project’s budget. For example, say your organization’s budget is $250,000 per year and that you spend about 85% on programs and services and reserve 15% for administration and fundraising. If you follow the Kellogg Foundation’s guidance, your group’s overall research/evaluation budget should be more than $10,000 per year. If your total annual budget is $1 million and administration costs remain about 15%, then your research budget should be more than $40,000 next year.

“Conducting an evaluation requires an organization to invest valuable resources, including time and money. The benefits of a well-planned, carefully conducted evaluation outweigh its costs; therefore, the Kellogg Foundation expects that a portion of your budget will be designated for evaluation. Generally, an evaluation costs between 5 and 7 percent of a project’s total budget.”

Is your animal organization investing enough in evaluation? Whether or not you agree with the Kellogg Foundation’s guidelines, your budget for next year should include some amount for research and evaluation. HRC can help by providing a free consultation to assist you with scoping potential research projects for 2012 and beyond. We offer a wide variety of research services to animal and environmental advocacy organizations. HRC is also a nonprofit organization that shares your ideals, so we’ll work harder to make sure the research meets your needs (while remaining objective).

If you want to walk through the process in more detail, the Kellogg Foundation offers a worksheet with the following budget elements (see the foundation’s link above to get the worksheet):

1. Evaluation staff salary and benefits – the commitment of time and energy from your animal group’s staff and volunteers
2. Consultants – the use of outside experts (like HRC) that can help design research projects and ensure accurate results
3. Travel – covers travel costs that may be necessary when evaluating broad geographic areas or comparing geographies
4. Communications – depending on research method, these may involve postage, telephone costs, online surveys, etc.
5. Printing and duplication – preparing research documents such as survey instruments as well as analytical reports
6. Printed materials – covers the cost of background reports or other materials and producing research instruments
7. Supplies and equipment – computers and/or specialized software for conducting research and analyzing the results

“Evaluation is a critical thinking process, and successful project directors and staff do not readily delegate their thinking to someone outside the project,” says the Kellogg report. “Still, there are times when it is appropriate to utilize people with evaluation expertise.” Using an outside expert is essential when the stakes are high for your program or campaign, and that’s a good time to consider hiring a consultant like the (not for profit) Humane Research Council. Learn more about our research services or contact us to discuss the details of your project and how research might help.

Whether or not you hire an outside expert like HRC, be sure to evaluate the effectiveness of your programs and campaigns to be certain that your resources are well-spent. Our advice is to be objective, use proven research methods, and make sure you’re evaluating what matters, which is the change in attitudes and especially behavior among your target audience. Lastly, remember that evaluation is an ongoing process and that the bigger your campaign grows, the more you need to evaluate the results. The animals are depending on you to constantly evaluate and improve your efforts.