The Partnership for Evaluation, Research, and Implementation (PERI) is a high-quality, low-cost program evaluation resource center for local nonprofit and governmental organizations in the health and human services sector. By providing information and expertise on program outcomes and quality improvement, PERI assists nonprofits with measuring success, demonstrating the effectiveness of programs and services, and ultimately increasing the likelihood of future program funding.
Funding Structure
A unique feature of PERI is its funding structure. Developed with input from many local nonprofit agencies and Foundations, PERI’s funding model is designed to provide low-cost evaluation services to nonprofits. Through financial support provided to PERI from The George Gund Foundation, agencies selected to work with PERI only pay a fraction of the overall project costs, with the remainder supported by the Begun Center and participating Foundations. The partnership between participating agencies, PERI, and Foundations is described in more detail below:
- Agencies: Each nonprofit agency selected to work with PERI provides a reasonable amount of funding as a way to demonstrate their commitment. Agency contributions are determined using a sliding scale and typically range between 15%-35% of the total evaluation costs.
- PERI: PERI provides dedicated staff effort and support to all selected projects.
- Foundations: The remainder of the project cost is supported by participating Foundations.
PERI Services
PERI services are provided by a team of expert evaluators located in the Begun Center at CWRU. Services are focused on three main areas: consultation, evaluation, and training.
While not an exhaustive list, the following services will be available through PERI:
- Evaluation consultation to develop or improve evaluation procedures, assessment tools, and data entry and summary systems
- Program evaluation including data collection, analysis, data visualization, and reporting
- Agency training on evaluation methodologies and practices
Agency Selection
Agencies are selected for PERI services through a proposal process. In the past, PERI released a Request for Proposals (RFP) approximately every 18 months and selected about six agencies to work with in that time frame. Based on feedback from agencies and our stakeholders, PERI decided to release RFPs more frequently, but accept fewer proposals each round. This allows agencies selected to begin working with PERI immediately.
If you would like to be added to the PERI mailing list to receive future RFPs and announcements, please email your name, organization, and email address to peri@case.edu.