What is effective reporting?

In our opinion, an effective report is one that gets widely used. Too many hours are wasted writing reports that lie on shelves collecting dust! The first question you may want to ask is what reporting requirements exist - how often and in what format?

In the case of evaluations, sometimes it is worth considering whether a report is even needed? Sometimes, for a formative evaluation, simply presenting the key findings can be sufficient. But other times it is not!

Before starting to write up any evaluation reports, it is useful to check what kind of report is required. In some cases, a formal report may not be necessary - it all depends on the purpose of the evaluation and the requirements of the audience.

Sometimes you may have to prepare different versions of the evaluation report for different audiences. Some may only want a one-page summary while others may require more detail.

However, if you do use summaries, remember that evaluation is not just about the communication of successful results. Somewhere in an evaluation process there must be solid evidence to support the summary, including negative results and an explanation for these results.

At Clear Horizon, we utilise three main types of evaluation reports:

1. A full evaluation report (good for any type of evaluation - detailed but quite long)
2. A full performance story report (good for outcomes evaluation)
3. A performance story report summary flyer
4. A report card ( usually for reporting only on the “state of the asset”)