Justify Your Attendance

Providing a strong justification for your attendance at educational events is vital to persuading your employer to offer financial aid. Utilize this toolkit to help identify key benefits of attending the AEA Summer Evaluation Institute.

Creative solutions may help your request get approved. Consider these options:

• Before meeting with your supervisor, prepare a plan that shows who will cover your duties while you attend the Summer Evaluation Institute.
• Offer to prepare and deliver a short presentation and Q&A session for your colleagues to share what you learned. This way, your coworkers will benefit from your attendance.  
• Share speaker handouts with your colleagues.  

Contact Mike Zapata at info@eval.org if you need additional information or support when drafting your request. We hope to see you in DC this June!

Using this justification toolkit, you will learn how to:

• Review Talking Points
• Determine Costs
• Outline the Benefits
• Draft Your Request

​Step 1. Review Talking Points for Summer Evaluation Institute

Use these talking points to convey to your supervisor why you should attend the in-person Summer Evaluation Institute.

Pre-Institute Workshop

The Summer Evaluation Institute pre-event workshop, It’s Not the Plan, it’s the Planning: Strategies for Evaluation Plans and Planning, provides an in-depth learning opportunity to be taught by expert facilitators, Sheila Robinson and Elizabeth Grim. This workshop is ideal for evaluators at all stages of their careers.

Education That Fits Your Needs

Summer Evaluation Institute will feature 20 workshops across two full days. These interactive, immersive workshops will give you the opportunity to learn from your peers, engage in meaningful discussions, and work through challenges or barriers in your evaluation practice alongside the evaluation community.

Learn From Your Peers

Summer Evaluation Institute presents an excellent opportunity to learn from your peers about best practices and evaluation trends. Our speakers come from a variety of industry sectors and can provide insights on challenges and solutions they have encountered within their programs or organizations. You will have the opportunity to ask questions, gain insights into case studies, and work together with your peers and our speakers to find solutions.

Expand Your Network

One of the greatest benefits of attending Summer Evaluation Institute is the opportunity to meet colleagues from around the world, and networking with individuals face-to-face creates a more meaningful experience.

Step 2. Determine the Costs

For full registration pricing details, visit the Summer Institute registration page.

Step 3: Outline the Benefits

When showcasing the benefits of Summer Evaluation Institute, focus specifically on what you will bring back to your organization as a return on their investment. Reference the AEA website to answer the below questions. Please note: AEA will continue to update the website with additional details.

1. What workshops have particular relevance to the work you do?
2. Which workshops can teach you a skill and/or help your team overcome current or future challenges?
3. Are there any speakers your organization would benefit from hearing or working with?
4. What doors can networking opportunities open for you and your organization?
5. How can increasing your involvement with AEA benefit your practice and organization?

When considering these questions, keep these tips in mind:

• List specific workshops and explain how they will impact your practices or organization.
• Clearly make the connection between your needs and the benefits you are identifying.
• If the scholarship approver is outside of your department, don’t assume they understand your goals or any technical terms. Spell out the impact for them.
• Passion is the best persuasion technique – let yours shine through in your letter.

Step 4: Draft Your Request

Customize this letter to show the costs and benefits you outlined above.

Dear < Approver’s name >,

I would like to attend Summer Evaluation Institute 2024, a professional development workshop series for evaluators, applied researchers, grantmakers, foundation program officers, nonprofit administrators, and social science students hosted by the American Evaluation Association, taking place in Washington, DC, June 26-28. This event brings together evaluators, evaluation scholars, students, and evaluation users to collaborate and expand their practice through education, knowledge-sharing, and networking.

This year’s Summer Evaluation Institute features workshop topics ranging from < list relevant topic > to < list another relevant topic >. I am confident what I learn will be directly applicable to my work and advance my development as a professional evaluator.

In addition to the educational benefits, Summer Evaluation Institute is a great way to meet like-minded professionals and expand my network. It also creates an opportunity for our organization to share our work and lessons learned with the evaluation community.

In order to attend this event and achieve my goals, I am seeking sponsorship of < total amount you need > for the following expenses:

Registration: <$xxxx>
Round-trip Airfare: <$xxxx>
Transportation: <$xxxx>
Hotel: <xxxx>
Meals: <$xxxx>

The opportunity for me to develop a network of contacts and to gain knowledge in specific areas of evaluation makes my attendance at Summer Evaluation Institute a wise and cost-effective investment that will benefit our organization. Please let me know if you have any questions, or would like more information on this professional development event.

Sincerely,

< Your name here >