EVALUATION PLANNING PROCESS QUICK GUIDE 

EVALUATION PLANNING PROCESS 

Overview
 

Interventions funded through the SIF must enter the program with at least a preliminary level of evidence. Then 

through rigorous, external, and unbiased evaluation, each intermediary is expected to ensure that the evidence 

base behind its funded intervention(s) is advanced and provides moderate or strong levels of evidence of impact 

by the end of the three- to five-year subgrant period. SIF’s definitions of preliminary, moderate, and strong 

levels of evidence can be found in the NOFA and in “Intervention Levels of Evidence.” 

The Planning Process 

The diagram and description below outline the evaluation planning process you will undergo if you are selected 

as a SIF intermediary. 

 

	 	 	 	

	 	

Snapshot of SIF’s evaluation planning process 

2. Development of 3. Development and

1. Orientation on Portfolio Evaluation refinement of SIF 4. CNCS/SIF Approval

Evaluation Strategy (PES)	by Evaluation Plans of SEPs

intermediaries (SEPs)

5. Evaluation plan

implementation

and	reporting

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) provides guidance, feedback, and technical 

assistance to intermediaries, subgrantees and their evaluation partners and monitors their activities at each step 

in the evaluation process. 

1.	 After being selected for a SIF grant award, intermediaries receive an orientation by CNCS staff on SIF’s 

evaluation expectations. 

2.	 Intermediaries select subgrantees to implement interventions with at least a preliminary level of
 

evidence.
 

3.	 Once subgrantees are selected, intermediaries submit a Portfolio Evaluation Strategy (PES) plan to 

CNCS for discussion and feedback. The PES provides a framework for CNCS and the SIF 

intermediaries to discuss how the intermediary will approach the evaluation of its portfolio of 

subgrantees. 

4.	 CNCS and its evaluation technical assistance provider discuss the PES with intermediaries to clarify any 

questions, develop a shared understanding of the approach, and offer advice as intermediaries begin to 

develop their SIF Evaluation Plans (SEPs) using the SEP Guidance document provided by CNCS. 

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EVALUATION PLANNING PROCESS QUICK GUIDE 	 SOCIAL INNOVATION FUND - CLASSIC 

5.	 The next step in the evaluation planning process involves the drafting and submission of the SEP, 

following the guidelines provided in the SEP Guidance, which lays out in detail what should be 

included. The SEPs submitted to CNCS typically go through two rounds of review, feedback and 

revision before they are finalized, a process which typically takes six to eight weeks. The plans are 

approved by CNCS only when all outstanding questions, issues, or concerns about the proposed 

evaluations are considered and addressed. 

Approved plans provide the basis for the rigorous evaluations conducted by third-party evaluators as part of the 

SIF program. It takes about nine months to one year following the grant awards for intermediaries to have 

approved evaluation plans in place. 

Importance of Partnership in SIF Evaluation Plan Development and Implementation 

SIF intermediaries typically work with an evaluation partner that could be internal or external to the 

organization. Internal evaluators are typically staff members who hold positions as evaluation officers at the 

intermediary organization. More frequently, evaluators are external to the organization and may be individual 

consultants, evaluation consulting firms or university or university-affiliated partners. 

Intermediaries and their evaluation partners usually work together to oversee the evaluation work of subgrantees 

and provide evaluation training and technical assistance as needed. In limited cases, the intermediary evaluator 

conducts evaluation of all supported interventions. In others, the external evaluator works across the portfolio to 

support the intermediary and the subgrantees in their evaluation activities. 

The subgrantees also work with other external evaluation partners who develop and implement the SEPs 

at the local level. Partnerships are often defined in contractual agreements at the intermediary and 

subgrantee level. CNCS supports intermediaries and their evaluation partners through its own set of 

activities. Although CNCS is in direct communication with SIF intermediaries only, as needed and at the 

discretion of the intermediaries CNCS communicates with subgrantees and evaluation partners. 

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