Evaluation Organisations

Charities Evaluation Services
Provides support on quality and evaluation systems for the UK voluntary sector.
www.ces-vol.org.uk

Evaluation Support Scotland
Works with voluntary organisations and funders so they can measure the impact of their work. Provides practical support and access to resources and tools, and takes action to build evaluation and learning into funding and policy-making processes.
www.evaluationsupportscotland.org.uk

UK Evaluation Society
A professional membership organisation that exists to promote and improve the theory, practice, understanding and utilisation of evaluation and its contribution to public knowledge.
www.evaluation.org.uk

Evaluation Trust
Works alongside smaller voluntary, community, user & carer organisations helping them explore the potential role of participatory research and evaluation.
www.evaluationtrust.org

European Evaluation Society (EES)
Promotes theory, practice and utilisation of high quality evaluation, primarily within European countries.
www.europeanevaluation.org

American Evaluation Association
International professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation.
www.eval.org

Support & Umbrella Bodies

Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (NICVA)
The umbrella body for voluntary and community organisations in Northern Ireland.
www.nicva.org 

Community Foundation for Northern Ireland
Works to support people, strengthen communities and build peace in the divided communities of Northern Ireland.
www.communityfoundationni.org

Community Change
Facilitation, training and support for community groups and organisations.
www.communitychange-ni.org

CO3
The leadership organisation for Northern Ireland’s third sector.
www.CO3.bz

Community Places
A not-for-profit voluntary organisation which provides advice on planning issues to disadvantaged communities and individuals and support to community planning, consultation, research and building projects.
www.communityplaces.info

Volunteer Development Agency
The lead organisation for the promotion and development of volunteering across Northern Ireland.
www.volunteering-ni.org

Advice NI
The independent advice network.
www.adviceni.net

The Wheel
Voluntary/community sector resource network operating mostly in the Republic of Ireland.
www.wheel.ie

National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NACVA)
The national voice of local third sector infrastructure in England.
www.navca.org.uk

National Council for Voluntary Organisations
Pre-eminent umbrella body for the English voluntary sector. The site carries extensive range of briefings, news, events listings and links to hundreds of UK voluntary organisations.
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk

Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations
The SCVO is the national body representing the voluntary sector in Scotland.
www.scvo.org.uk

Nef (new economics foundation) – ‘About New Ways of Measuring Progress’
Works on economic, social and environmental issues through a mixture of practical pilot projects and tools for change, in-depth research, campaigning, policy discussion, and raising awareness through the media and publications.
http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/newways_about.aspx

Academy for Sustainable Development
The skills and expertise arm of the new Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). They improve the skills and knowledge of people who create and maintain communities.
http://www.hcaacademy.co.uk/

The Institute of Community Cohesion
A not for profit partnership, which aims to build capacity at all levels and in all local and national agencies to promote community cohesion.
http://www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk/Pages/default.aspx

Funders

Big Lottery Fund
Awards funds from the National Lottery.
www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Joseph Rowntree Foundation
A leading funder of social research and development work in the U.K.
http://www.jrf.org.uk/

Government

Voluntary & Community Unit, Department for Social Development
www.dsdni.gov.uk/index/voluntary_and_community.htm

Tools/Resources

Monitoring and Evaluation News
A news service focusing on developments in monitoring and evaluation methods relevant to development programmes with social development objectives.
www.mande.co.uk

Economic and Social Research Institute
One of Europe's leading research centres in the social sciences.
 www.esri.ie/

Safer Stronger Communities Fund – Indicators of Strong Communities
www.neighbourhood.gov.uk/publications.asp?did=1567

The Balanced Scorecard Institute
Balanced Scorecard is a strategic planning and management system used to align business activities to the vision and strategy of the organization, improve internal and external communications, and monitor organizational performance against strategic goals. 
www.balancedscorecard.org/

The Evaluation Exchange
A periodical that contains new lessons and emerging strategies for evaluating programs and policies, particularly those focused on children, families, and communities (published by the Harvard Family Research Project).
www.hfrp.org/evaluation/the-evaluation-exchange

Improving Support
Brings together practical resources and learning for third sector support providers.
www.improvingsupport.org.uk/index.html

Arts Council England 
Partnerships for Learning Guide, by Felicity Wolf. Publication provides a guide to evaluating arts education projects.  www.artscouncil.org.uk/publications/publication_detail.php?browse=recent&id=200

Unicef
Evaluation Technical Notes – e.g. Designing Terms of Reference; Children Participating in Research, Monitoring and Evaluation, Ethics and your Responsibility as a Manager.
www.unicef.org/evaluation/index_13486.html

Victims Unit
OFMDFM - Report on Ethical Principles for Researching Vulnerable Groups/Paul Connolly University of Ulster
 www.victimsni.gov.uk/ethical.pdf

Performance Assessment Resource Centre
Guidance notes in Monitoring and Evaluation Practice available.
www.parcinfo.org

World Bank
Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation - Good Practice and Lessons Learned
Click here

W. K. Kellogg Foundation
Evaluation Handbook available on-line (100 pgs) - provides useful practical information for funded projects on planning, data collection, analysis & interpretation, and utilising evaluation. It also explores the process of commissioning external evaluation.
 www.wkkf.org/Pubs/Tools/Evaluation/Pub770.pdf

Scottish Community Development Centre
LEAP (Learning Evaluation And Planning) explores community learning and evaluation.
www.scdc.org.uk/leapinfo/