RADical Hope’s Standards of Excellence
Suicide is now the second leading cause of death for young Americans, and youth suicides have spiked 56% in the last ten years. Evaluating and assessing the effectiveness of programs that help young people better cope with life’s challenges is more essential than ever.
To refine its own approach in identifying high-quality programs, and to assist other stakeholders in the field, RADical Hope developed a practical and systematic assessment tool called “Standards of Excellence.” Its content is easily adaptable to the evaluation needs of other foundations. Although highly detailed, the information is organized simply, in report card form. This will make executive judgment of a program’s overall health and fundability easily apparent.
RADical Hope’s Standards of Excellence include four tools:
- Tool #1: SCREENING CRITERIA: The aim of this section is to assess measures relating to the goals, culture and operational capacity of a program.
- Tool #2: ORGANIZATIONAL HEALTH CHECK: The aim of this section is to assess the fitness of the program’s organization, including quality of governance, financial health, management team and associate partners.
- Tool #3: PROGRAM ASSESSMENT: This section requires a more detailed examination of program content, impact, significance and outcomes to determine whether they are indicative of potential success. This information can form the basis for a more customized evaluation.
- Tool #4: ACCOUNTABILITY REPORT: This section provides a structure for funded organizations to report on items detailed in Tools #1 #2 and #3.