Is Your Nonprofit Ready for Decentralized Evaluation?

Our 4-Stage Checklist to Help You Reflect, Score, and Evolve

The future of impact evaluation is likely participatory and tech-enabled. However, before jumping into AI tools or digital voting pilots, it’s important to ask: Are we ready for this?

This 4-stage checklist helps you assess your organizations readiness to adopt decentralized, community-driven evaluation approaches. It’s designed to meet you where you are. Whether you're testing your first feedback survey or scaling up a sector-leading pilot.

Use the checklist to identify strengths, uncover gaps, and plan your next move. Each item includes a point value and a practical example. Add up your score and reflect on what comes next.

🟢 Stage 1: Laying the Groundwork

Build trust, create space for feedback, and foster a culture of learning.

• Leadership Buy-In (2 pts): Leaders support community feedback experiments.

• Community Trust (2 pts): Participants feel safe sharing input.

• Learning Culture (1 pt): Staff view feedback as genuine growth opportunities.

• Basic Tools (1 pt): Staff can build surveys and protect privacy.

🟢 Stage 2: Strengthening Analysis

Start generating consistent insights, improve digital confidence, and embed ethical practice.

• Data Quality (2 pts): Feedback is collected consistently.

• Ethical Data Use (2 pts): A robust data ethics policy and informed consent.

• Skills Training (1 pt): Staff gain and apply new skills.

• Secure Storage (1 pt): Robust data usage polices and strong compliance.

  
  

🟢 Stage 3: Technical Pilot Readiness

Move from feedback to formalization. Begin testing new tools with inclusive support systems.

• Tech Support (2 pts): Access to a tech advisor/partners with stakeholders actively and confidently use the tech.

• Feedback Loop (2 pts): Clear process (collect → analyze → act → report) shared with participants.

• Community Access (1 pt): Most participants can use digital tools, or have accessible alternatives.

• Open Mindset (1 pt): Leadership treats new tech as experimentation, not certainty.

🟢Stage 4: Scaling Up

Prepare for long-term sustainability and shared ownership of impact.

• Governance (2 pts): Community advisory boards and decision policies are in place.

• Sustainability (2 pts): Budget and knowledge-sharing support continuity.

• Advanced Skills (1 pt): Management of tech infrastructure and data security.

• Ecosystem Connection (1 pt): Organization participates in sector networks.

  
  

🏁 Score Your Readiness

0–6: Laying Foundations

You're starting strong. Focus on trust-building, culture, and basic tools.

7–12: Building Capability

You’ve got momentum. Now deepen your analysis and ethical frameworks.

13–18: Tech-Ready

You’re ready for pilot-level experiments. Time to formalize feedback loops and test inclusively.

19+: Ready to Scale

You’ve built a strong, distributed system. Now lead by sharing your learning and influencing sector norms.

📍 Next Steps for Decentralized Evaluation

1) Identify one area to strengthen over the next 6 months.

2) Read our full 2035 roadmap for strategic context:👉 Here

Readiness isn’t about ticking every box—it’s about knowing where you stand and building from there.