Evaluation Support to University

Are you Seeking Evaluation Support?

EREC partners with faculty, staff, and community organizations to design and implement high-quality evaluations for externally funded projects. We encourage project teams to engage with us as early as possible during proposal development so that the evaluation plan, scope of work, and budget can be aligned with project goals and funder expectations.

Evaluation Budget Guidance

A meaningful external evaluation strengthens a proposal by providing an independent assessment of implementation fidelity, project effectiveness, and continuous improvement. High-quality evaluation requires adequate resources.

As a general guideline, evaluation budgets are often 2–5% of the total project budget (see NSF examples and guidance here: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for for NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) (NSF 23-527)(nsf23044) | NSF - National Science Foundation), depending on the funder's requirements, the complexity of the evaluation, and the proposed scope of work. Evaluation activities may include:

  • Evaluation planning and logic model development
  • Instrument development or adaptation
  • Data collection and management
  • Quantitative and qualitative data analysis
  • Annual and final evaluation reports
  • Ongoing collaboration with the project team
  • Funder-required documentation and dissemination activities

While every project is unique, the evaluation budget should be commensurate with the level of evaluation effort requested.

EREC Collaboration Guidelines

Because EREC operates entirely through externally funded evaluation projects, we are not able to subsidize evaluation activities through general university funds. To ensure we can provide high-quality evaluation services, we typically collaborate on projects with annual evaluation budgets of approximately $30,000 or more.

For projects with annual budgets below $30,000, EREC may still consider collaboration when there is strong strategic alignment with the Center's mission and/or clear potential for the work to expand into larger externally funded evaluation opportunities.

Projects with more limited evaluation budgets may be better served by partnering with an individual faculty member, independent evaluator, or evaluation consultant whose service model is better suited to smaller-scale projects.

Contact Us Early

Early conversations allow us to develop an evaluation plan that is feasible, responsive to funder expectations, and appropriately budgeted. We welcome the opportunity to discuss your project and determine whether EREC is the right evaluation partner for your proposal.