Resources for Applicants & Grantees

Marillac Mission Fund (MMF) is committed to the measurement and evaluation of its impact on those experiencing poverty and vulnerability, and on the community at large. To support this commitment, MMF staff, in cooperation with the Grant Award Committee and the Program Committee, has determined procedures and practices to integrate the evaluation of outcomes and impact of all their grantees into their own impact measurement system.

This requires all applicants to select from a set of MMF Outcomes and Indicators to ensure: 1) alignment of their work with the Fund’s mission and 2) alignment and participation in impact measurement within the Fund’s overall efforts. It also requires that all grantees systematically evaluate their progress toward these Outcomes and Indicators to the best of their ability and in compliance with the MMF online grant management system.  Grantees are required to provide documentation to support the outcomes/results that are reported to MMF.

The Users Guide is a guide with explanations of the Fund’s thinking of what the outcomes/indicators mean along with examples of evaluation tools intended for illustration purposes only. The purpose of the guide is to assist applicants to apply the examples provided and/or develop their own measures to track and report on MMF Outcomes and Indicators.  Utilizing items verbatim from the examples are acceptable as long as no copyright rules are broken or when the appropriate permissions from the instrument authors have been requested.

 If viewed on a computer, you can go to "View" and change it to "Web Layout" in order to make the Table of Contents "clickable."  The Users Guide has also been updated to include direct links to download many of the sample evaluation tools that are referenced.  They are also available on the Evaluation Tools & Surveys page of this site for download.

Definitions of Terms in the Guide

Outcome: The changes in (or benefits achieved by) individuals, organizations or communities due to their participation in project activities. This may include changes in knowledge, skills, behavior, conditions, or status.

Indicator: An indicator is the more specific and measurable definition of an outcome. Indicators are needed to provide evidence that a certain outcome has been achieved.

Activities: Actual events or actions that take place as part of the project to achieve goals and objectives.

Measure/Measurement Tool: The tool used to collect the information necessary to determine whether an outcome or indicator has been achieved. Includes surveys, checklists, observations, standardized measures, and other types of documentation.