How do you identify the best practices and evidence-based interventions for your non-profit program?

2 Conduct a community needs assessment

The next step is to understand the needs, strengths, and challenges of the community you are serving and the problem you are addressing. A community needs assessment is a systematic process of collecting and analyzing data from multiple sources, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations, or existing reports. You can use various tools and frameworks to guide your community needs assessment, such as SWOT analysis, asset mapping, or gap analysis. The results of your community needs assessment will help you identify the gaps and opportunities for your program, and the priorities and preferences of your stakeholders.

3 Search for evidence-based interventions

Once you have a clear picture of your program goals and objectives, and the community needs and assets, you can start looking for evidence-based interventions that match your criteria. Evidence-based interventions are programs, practices, or policies that have been proven to be effective by rigorous research and evaluation. You can use various sources and databases to find evidence-based interventions, such as the What Works Clearinghouse, the National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices, or the Campbell Collaboration. You can also consult experts, peers, or literature reviews in your field to get recommendations and insights.

4 Evaluate the relevance and quality of the evidence

Not all evidence-based interventions are equally relevant and reliable for your program. You need to evaluate the quality and applicability of the evidence before you decide to adopt or adapt an intervention. You can use criteria such as the level of evidence, the strength of the results, the consistency of the findings, the validity of the methods, and the relevance of the context and population. You can also use tools such as the Evidence Project's Quality Assessment Tool or the Evidence-Based Practice Attitude Scale to help you assess the evidence.

5 Adapt the intervention to your context and population

Once you have selected an evidence-based intervention that suits your program goals and objectives, and the community needs and assets, you need to adapt it to your specific context and population. Adaptation is the process of modifying or tailoring an intervention to fit the local culture, resources, preferences, and needs, while maintaining its core components and effectiveness. You can use frameworks such as the ADAPT-ITT model or the RE-AIM model to guide your adaptation process. You should also involve your stakeholders, such as your staff, partners, beneficiaries, or funders, in the adaptation process to ensure their buy-in and feedback.

6 Monitor and evaluate your program implementation and outcomes

The final step is to monitor and evaluate your program implementation and outcomes to ensure that you are delivering the intervention as intended and achieving the desired results. Monitoring and evaluation are ongoing processes of collecting and analyzing data on your program activities, outputs, outcomes, and impacts, and using the data to inform your decision-making and improvement. You can use tools such as the Logic Model Development Guide or the Program Evaluation Toolkit to help you design and conduct your monitoring and evaluation. You should also share your findings and lessons learned with your stakeholders and the wider community to enhance your program transparency and accountability.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?