AEA Header
Evaluation 2010 Audience
2010 Annual Report 

 

March 2011

Dear Colleagues,

Leslie CooksyAs AEA's 2010 President, I am proud to introduce the first annual report of the American Evaluation Association.

As you will see, 2010 was an exceptional year for us on a number of fronts - member engagement and services, outreach to policymakers, progress on our commitment to diversity and inclusion, and a new focus on the evaluation of our programs.

Some of the achievements of this past year were facilitated by the association's change in how the Board conducts its business. In past years, the Board was involved in every aspect of the association's operations. This reflected our origins as an all-volunteer organization. But for several years now we have contracted with an excellent association management company (AMC), directed by Susan Kistler, to manage our operations. As this relationship evolved, we saw the opportunity to change the Board's focus from the provision of services (now managed under the Board's direction by the AMC) to a larger consideration of the association's goals for members, the evaluation community in general, evaluation users, and the public. 

AEA.2010.2After a period of transition, the Board is now wholly focused on the three tasks of a policy-oriented board - the review and development of the policies that guide the association, active solicitation of member input to and engagement in the policy process, and the evaluation and monitoring of association programs and processes. I hope you will take the time to review our association policies and provide feedback either online or by contacting any Board member directly. You will see the recent addition of policies recommended by the Multicultural Task Force, the Evaluation Policy Task Force, the Finance Priority Area Team, and others. We have also increased our efforts to get member input to documents created for the association by asking for member comments on the Evaluation Roadmap for Effective Governance (developed by the Evaluation Policy Task Force), the Statement on the Importance of Culturally-Competent Evaluation (developed by the Culturally-Competent Evaluation Task Force), and by-laws revisions proposed by the Board.

Given my presidential theme of Evaluation Quality, I am especially pleased by the attention that the Board has given to monitoring and evaluation this year. We now receive regular monitoring reports from the Executive Director and have plans underway to issue Requests for Proposals in order to evaluate our transition to the policy-based governance model and of our Evaluation Policy Task Force. In addition, we have policies in place that will ensure our continued attention to the evaluation of the association's activities.

The rest of the 2010 Annual Report will spotlight some of the many services and opportunities now provided to members of AEA. It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve as the association's President during this year of growth and productivity.

Sincerely,
Leslie
Leslie Cooksy
2010 AEA President 
HIGHLIGHTS
Membership Growth
Financial Health
Awards Recognition
Webinar Success
Social Media Use
Daily Blog Launched
Evaluation Policy
Journal News & Trends
Board Recognition
AEA's Membership Growth Strong & Steady
 
AEA 2010 membership
AEA Membership
 
While many organizations are struggling through tough economic times, the American Evaluation Association has maintained steady growth. Not only has membership within the association increased annually, it has more than doubled in the last decade - rising steadily from 3,000 members in 2002 to more than 6,400 members today. 
 
AEA membership grew 7% last year.
 
Financial Health Affirmed in AEA's First-Ever Audit

AEA Finances

 

AEA Budget Summary

Total Assets $2.2 Million

 

Though AEA is nearing its 25th anniversary, the association had never undertaken a financial audit - until this year. The assocation voluntarily elected to assess its financial performance and brought in an outside auditor to conduct the review. 

 

Find Out More

 

 

"This is one of the cleanest audit statements I've read. I think it speaks highly of the work that Susan has been, and is, doing." -- Member, AEA's Finance Priority Area Team


AEA Honors Four at Awards Celebration

 

AEA Awards 2010AEA Awards 


Honored this year at AEA's annual conference in San Antonio were recipients who have helped heighten international evaluation efforts, spearhead a groundbreaking new journal, influence a health initiative that impacted the lives of children and families in five urban communities, and inspire a new generation of evaluators.
 

Join us in congratulating:

  • James Rugh, AEA's Alva & Gunnar Myrdal Evaluation Practice Award
  • Jonathan Morell, AEA's Lazarsfeld Evaluation Theory Award
  • Beth Weitzman, AEA's Outstanding Evaluation Award
  • Rodney Hopson, AEA's Robert Ingle Service Award
Popularity of Online Webinars Exceeds Expectations

AEA Webinars 2010

 

AEA Webinars

 

Did you know that AEA's online webinars series, launched in January, drew more than 300 participants in its very first session? Registrants attended from Australia, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, the Phillipines, South Africa, Switzerland, Tunisia and the United States.

 

AEA's Coffee Break Demonstration Series has been a popular addition. 

 

The 20-minute online webinars offer members the opportunity to learn the basics of useful tools, while longer professional development webinars provide opportunities to engage with experts and ask questions in a highly interactive environment. If interested in past sessions, please visit our archive. And, if interested in presenting, please email [email protected]

 

Find Out More

Kudos - AEA Lauded for its Social Media Use

Social Media KudosSocial Networking Success

 

AEA was recognized twice in a new book published by the American Society of Association Executives and the Center for Association Leadership to help professionals better utilize popular new mediums.

Social Networking for Nonprofits: Increasing Engagement in a Mobile and Web 2.0 World explores the popularity - and practicality - of new social media platforms and its ability to bring people together.

Two examples:

AEA's LinkedIn membership grew from fewer than 150 to more than 2,000 in just nine months. 

AEA's popular Coffee Break Demonstration Series - 20-minute online webinars that feature tools, websites and software of interest to AEA members - was an instantaneous success with over 300 participants in its first online session.

Social Networking for Nonprofits cites both as examples where the organization was attentive to the needs of its members - and responsive to emerging trends.

Find Out More

New Tools & Resources

AEA 365 2010aea365 Launched

aea365 made its professional debut on January 1st and provides a tip-a-day by and for evaluators.

aea365 features hot tips, cool tricks, rad resources and lessons learned.
An archive showcases more than 370 entries so far. Read them at your convenience, search by topical areas, feel free to contribute, or subscribe to receive aea365 via a daily email. We value your input.


Get your daily dose of evaluation goodness!

Evaluation Policy - Advocacy Update

Roadmap 2

EPTF & Evaluation Policy

AEA's evaluation policy efforts are well followed by AEA members. In fact, anything evaluation policy-related appears among the most-read articles in AEA's monthly newsletter. AEA's evaluation policy advocacy efforts have been heightened over the past three years, with growing impact.

The Evaluation Policy Task Force reports that in 2010:
  • A New Evaluation Policy TIG was established
  • AEA's Evaluation Roadmap for a More Effective Government was approved, with member input and by member vote
  • Official AEA comments on emerging evaluation policies, were sent to:
    • OMB on the Papework Reduction Act
    • HHS on the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program
    • GAO on its Audit Guide

Find Out More

Journal News & Trends

 

NDE.cover.11New Directions for Evalation

Every year, New Directions for Evaluation focuses on timely issues and 2010 was no exception.

 

Issue #125, The Systematic Screening and Assessment Method edited by Laura C. Leviton, Laura Kettel Khan and Nicola Dawkins introduced an innovative strategy for determining how best to invest scarce evaluation resources. Issue #126 guest editors Liesel Ritchie and Wayne MacDonald focused on a critical issue, Enhancing Disaster and Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Through Evaluation, at the time of the disastrous earthquake in Haiti. Guest editor Melissa Freeman explored evaluation's role in social justice in issue #127 Critical Social Theory and Evaluation Practice, and in issue #128 Evaluating Strategy Patricia Patrizi and Michael Q. Patton explored an important new evaluand.
 
A few highlights for 2010:

  • NDE readership/subscription surpassed the 8,000 mark
  • Total online downloads of NDE abstracts exceeded 50,000
  • The best-selling, most-accessed NDE issue is Evaluation Models by Dan Stufflebeam
  • NDE switched to APA style, facilitating writing, editing and production of the journal 
AJEcoverAmerican Journal of Evaluation
Under the editorship of Thomas Schwandt, the American Journal of Evaluation has expanded and revised three traditional submission categories over the past year.

Ethical Challenges - With the ever-growing expansion of evaluation activities in multiple fields, a variety of issues and concerns arise related to ethics (for example - obtaining institutional review board (IRB) approval when working as an independent contractor, working in cross-cultural settings, working with vulnerable populations, ethics of communication, ethics of data mining, the ethics of intervention, etc.). This section has expanded beyond its traditional cases and commentary format to include manuscripts that reflect on a range of ethical issues in professional evaluation practice. AJE invites scholarly discussions. Authors interested in submitting papers should contact [email protected] or the Section Editor, Leslie Goodyear, at [email protected]

Exemplars Section - Expanded to include not only discrete studies but also such forms of evaluation practice such as long-term consulting relationships, internal ongoing systemic evaluations, meta-evaluations, etc. AJE intends to examine not only large, highly visible, award-winning studies, but also the routine, everyday forms of practice that constitute the majority of evaluation work done in the profession. Email Paul Brandon at [email protected] or Nick Smith at [email protected].

Book Reviews - Currently inviting essay reviews of a single book or multiple books. Authors interested in submitting extended reviews that will be subject to peer review should contact [email protected] or the Book Reviews Editor, Lori Wingate at [email protected].
Heartfelt Thanks to AEA's Outgoing Officers 
2009 President & AEA Board Members, 2008-2010

rogIt is with much appreciation that we thank the AEA Board members who served the association during the rapid growth years of 2008-2010. We've valued their insight, experience and expertise. Join us in wishing them all a fond farewell - and nothing but the best for what lies ahead. We also thank our 2009 President, Debra Rog, who oversaw the association through its first transitional year under policy-based governance as she, too, exits our Board.

Our special thanks to:

Michael Hendricks, Elmima Johnson, and Rakesh Mohan

HendricksJohnsonMohan2

About Us

The American Evaluation Association is an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of evaluation in all its forms.

 

The American Evaluation Association's mission is to: 

  • Improve evaluation practices and methods
  • Increase evaluation use
  • Promote evaluation as a profession and
  • Support the contribution of evaluation to the generation of theory and knowledge about effective human action.

email: [email protected]

phone: 1-508-748-3326 or 1-888-232-2275

web: http://www.eval.org