Compassion Capital Fund Impact Evaluation Process Study - FBCO Protocol

Interview Protocols

FBCO Respondents

CCF Impact Evaluation Process Study

Interview Protocols

Respondents: FBCO Executive Director & Key Staff

The following is to be used as a guide. Interviewers should attempt to cover the topics with all respondents to the extent that they are knowledgeable about the topics given their role and function within the organization. The discussion may vary somewhat from the specifics or details of the interview questions listed below based on the unique circumstances of the organization or the respondent’s position and role.

Skip pattern: Specific questions that have been fully answered by one respondent should not be asked of subsequent respondents (e.g., how long organization has been in operation). However, multiple perspectives on more general topics are of interest and should be covered with each respondent, as appropriate given their role and function.

Respondent Background

Position

Years in Current Position

FBCO Background

1. To begin, tell me about this organization. What is its purpose or mission?

2. How long has this organization been operating?

3. What services and activities does your organization provide?

4. Please describe the participants that you serve (e.g., geographic area served; demographic and/or economic characteristics; educational characteristics, etc.).

5. How many full and part-time staff currently work for your organization? What are their roles and responsibilities? Do you utilize volunteers? If yes, how many do you utilize? How many hours per week do volunteers work (on average)? What are responsibilities of volunteers?

6. What is the level of your organization’s current operating budget? (rounded number acceptable)

Services Received from Intermediary

1. How did you learn about or first come to work with (intermediary)? Why were you interested in working with (intermediary)?

2. Have you received other capacity building assistance in the past? (Probe for source and type)

3. What did (intermediary) do to help identify your organizational needs (e.g., formal assessment, interviews with key staff)? Did you learn anything about your organization that surprised you?

4. Do you think the process used to help determine your organizations needs was a good one? Did the process result in a good match between what you wanted out of the training and technical assistance and what you received from (intermediary)?

5. Did you use the assistance from (intermediary) for a specific program or component within your organization or for your organization as a whole? (if so, probe about relation/size of program/component to whole).

6. What was the schedule of activities with (intermediary) staff? (i.e., How often did you meet? When and over what time period? Were activities ongoing or single events?)

7. About how many days or hours did you yourself participate in activities/trainings provided by staff or consultants from (intermediary)? In which activities?

8. Which other staff actively participated in activities/training sessions? In which activities? Can you provide an estimate of how much time (day/hours) they spent?

9. Did board members participate? In which activities?

10. Was the effort on your part and that of staff more/less than you expected?

11. Did you receive a financial award from (intermediary)?

• How much was the award?

• What did you use the funds for?

• Are there specific ways your organization changed as a result of the receipt and use of the financial assistance (separate and distinct from training and technical assistance received)? (probe: able to start new program or expand program, change composition of board, board retreat, hire grant writer, etc.)

12. Did you receive one-on-one technical assistance (TA) from staff or consultants of (intermediary)?

• Who provided the TA (staff or consultant)? Had you worked with this person before?

• How many hours/days of TA did your organization receive? Was this over an extended period, or did it occur only once or twice? (if not already addressed in prior responses)

• In what areas did you and/or your staff receive TA? (if not already addressed in prior responses)

• How were you able to use the TA – that is, put what you learned/heard into practice within your organization?

• Can you attribute any specific changes (large or small) in your organization to the TA your received? (explain)

• On a scale from 1 (very low) to 5 (extremely high) – how would you rate the usefulness of the TA to your organization? The level of experience and expertise of the person(s) providing the TA?

13. Did you or any staff or Board members attend group training or workshops provided by (intermediary)?

• Who led the training (staff or consultant)?

• How many hours? How many workshops? (if not already addressed in prior responses)

• What topics were covered in the trainings attended? (if not already addressed in prior responses)

• Can you attribute any specific changes in your organization to the training you or others received?

• On a scale from 1 (terrible) to 5 (excellent) – how would you rate the quality of the training; the usefulness of the training?

14. In general, with regard to TA and training, is there a certain format or approach you prefer or found most useful?

15. Describe any other type(s) of support (intermediary) has provided to your organization.

16. What specific service or support has been most helpful? In what specific ways did this help you and your organization, are there aspects of your organization or functioning that has changed as a result? Describe in detail how your organization has changed as a result.

17. Did this experience lead to other positive results over time (e.g., lead you to new funding, connect with consultants who you might use in the future)?

18. Have any of the changes had a direct impact on the services you provided?

• New program

• Expansion of existing program

• New curriculum

• Better trained staff

• Better linkages with other community organizations

• Serve more clients

19. Are there remaining areas of organizational capacity for which you would like to receive help via TA or training in the future?

20. Did you or others in your organization experience any challenges in working with staff or consultants from (intermediary)? (describe and how resolved, if so)

21. As programs of the type in which you participated continue – that is, funding of intermediary organizations such as (intermediary name) to work with community organizations to improve their organizational infrastructure – do you have any suggestions for how the program might be improved?

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