CLIENT CASE STUDY
Natrona Collective Health Trust
Project: Community-informed evaluation design
Sector: Philanthropy
Focus: Health
Project Length: 8 months
Participatory research process engages stakeholders to co-create collaborative evaluation strategy.
The Natrona Collective Health Trust (NCHT) is the first health conversion foundation in Wyoming seeking to support nonprofits and community-based organizations that improve the lifelong health of Natrona County residents. Trust-based philanthropy and systems change are core to NCHT’s approach to their mission of “advancing the mental wellbeing of young people.” As a relatively new private foundation that had grown in size and reach, NCHT had not yet developed a collaborative evaluation strategy that would reflect the mission, stakeholders, and philanthropic philosophy.
Services
Session facilitation
Theory of change and identification of evaluation priorities
Design and development of data collection management tools
Stakeholder engagement and participatory evaluation
Our approach
Using a participatory research and evaluation approach, we were able to spend time with NCHT’s grantees and partners as well as a group of youth stakeholders from the community to create a truly collaborative evaluation strategy.
To support the stakeholder engagement process, the Elevate Consulting team collaborated with NCHT nonprofit partners, grantees, and youth stakeholders to identify evaluation priorities, key metrics, and learning-focused outcomes that would ensure transparency and accountability. The implementation of this strategy included the Elevate Consulting team developing a mixed-methods data collection management and tools including recommendations for future tracking, data input, and grant database management.
This work is a great example of how participatory work can enrich an organization’s strategy and deepen trust and relationships with their stakeholders. We jump at any opportunity to apply participatory research and evaluation methods, and we are so excited by NCHT’s continued commitment to engaging community voice. Together with Elevate Consulting, NCHT was able to not only have clarity around their theory of change and evaluation priorities, but also operationalized their mission of trust-based philanthropy to improve the wellbeing and mental health of young people.
“Collaborating with Elevate Consulting on our evaluation strategy resulted in a meaningful, pragmatic approach that leaned into our values as a trust-based philanthropic organization, and also allowed for our young people to speak directly into the process. We are grateful to Elevate for creating a stakeholder-centric process that both aligned with our values and led to learning-focused outcomes to measure our future impact.”
Project Team
Alyssa Reynolds, M. Ed.
Consultant, Project Lead
Hannah Wohltjen, M.A., M.P.H.
Chief Research & Evaluation Officer, Project Principal
Maria Urias, M. Ed., M.T.S.
Associate Consultant, Project Support
“Working with the Natrona County Health Trust was a wonderful experience. Including youth voice is central to understanding the needs of a community, and we were able to assist NCHT in developing a robust plan that included youth and captures critical data around health outcomes.”
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