Monthly Archives: March 2013

What is a SMART objective?

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Well-written and well-conceived program objectives guide your evaluation plan; they indicate what will be measured to track program impact. SMART objectives are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-phased.

Specific: Who? (Target population / Persons doing the activity) What? (Action / Activity)
Measurable: How much change is expected
Achievable: Can be realistically accomplished given current resources and constraints
Realistic: Addresses the scope of the problem and proposes reasonable programmatic solution
Time-phased: Provides a timeline indicating when the objective will be met

Example

Not SMART: All students will attend the new class on nutrition and physical activity and will pass the quiz at the end of class.

SMART: Over the next 18 months, 80% of overweight and obese students at My Middle School will participate in the new 2-hour class on improving nutrition and increasing physical activity, and 80% will record scores of 80% or higher on the quiz at the end of the class.

Step 1 in responding to an RFP

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A Request for Proposals (RFP) is issued by a funder detailing the purpose of the funding, eligible applicants, key dates and application contents. The first step in responding to an RFP is to read it carefully, not once, not twice, but three times! Keep a highlighter handy to mark important instructions. Many RFPs are rather poorly written and take numerous reads to digest all of the important information.