Common Evaluation Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Leaving evaluation design until the last minute. Gathering data without knowing how it will be used. Trying to measure everything at once. Counting activity instead of evaluating impact.

These are some of the most common evaluation mistakes that quietly waste time, drain staff capacity, and produce reports that don’t lead to action or funding confidence.

In this practical, hands-on session, we’ll break down why these mistakes happen and, more importantly, what to do instead so evaluation supports your mission from the start.

Free Virtual Lunch and Learn

When: Wednesday, February 11, 2026 at 12:00 p.m. (MT)
Where: Virtual • Free • 60-minute presentation

Details:

Hosted on Google Meet (link sent after registration)
Replay provided to all registrants

Who This Is For

This session is designed for organizations and funders who rely on evaluation to demonstrate impact, guide decisions, and sustain funding.

Nonprofits managing monthly or annual reporting requirements that overwhelm teams and rarely reflect true program impact

State Agencies and Public Programs responsible for defining evaluation expectations and assessing outcomes

Indigenous-Serving Organizations seeking evaluation approaches that are person-centered, culturally relevant, and meaningful

Foundations and Charitable Funders looking for clearer, more usable evidence of impact across funded partners

If evaluation plays any role in sustaining your mission, this session is for you.

What You’ll Learn

In this 60-minute session (including a live Q&A), Audie will walk through:

The most common evaluation design mistakes and why they’re so easy to make
How to clarify what actually needs to be measured (and what doesn’t)
Why planning up front saves time, effort, and frustration later
How to design evaluation that leads to accountability, learning, and action
What effective, realistic evaluation looks like at different stages of program growth

The goal of any evaluation process is not perfection — it’s usefulness.

Why You Should Attend

Many evaluation challenges don’t come from a lack of effort. They come from misaligned planning.

When evaluation is treated as an afterthought:

Data is collected without a clear purpose.
Reports fail to answer the questions decision-makers actually need.
Staff time is spent generating information that no one uses.
Impact becomes harder to demonstrate, putting future funding at risk.

At the same time, many organizations try to do too much too soon, believing they need perfect, comprehensive evaluation right away. The result is over-collection, burnout, and confusion instead of clarity.

This session focuses on how to build evaluation strategically from the beginning so it grows with your program, supports learning, and leads to actionable insight over time.

What You’ll Receive

Everyone who registers will receive:

Access to our live virtual presentation
Access to the recording of the full session
Evaluation Self-Assessment Tool to help you and your team identify your organization’s current evaluation level
Clear guidance on what to focus on next, with the goal of not overloading you or your team
Time for live Q&A during the session

Meet the Presenter

Audie Nadler is the founder and lead evaluator at Authentic Evaluation. They specialize in creative, culturally responsive evaluation approaches that help organizations capture meaningful insight, tell honest impact stories, and align evaluation with their mission.

Audie works with nonprofits, public programs, Indigenous-serving organizations, and foundations to make evaluation more human, more useful, and more empowering, especially in moments of uncertainty and change.

Ready to Build Evaluation That Actually Works?

If evaluation currently feels overwhelming, unclear, or disconnected from your mission, this session will help you reset and refocus.