Date: Saturday, November 29, 2025
Hi! We are Ellie Kerr, Hope Gilbert, Moira Ragan, and Reagan Pearce, a team of evaluation practitioners with experience assisting clients in federal and philanthropic spaces. We’ve learned that getting authentic buy-in from interest-holders isn’t a single step, but an evolving process. Especially when interest-holders span programs, communities, or large organizations, it takes a mix of structure and flexibility to move everyone forward together. Today, we’re sharing our tested strategies for building genuine buy-in across the evaluation lifecycle, from the kick-off meeting to co-creating actionable recommendations.
Building buy-in starts before the first survey or interview. Start strong by creating an interest-holder map or organizational chart. Identify not just the formal participants but also informal influencers and community members whose perspectives could impact the process or outcomes.
Bringing interest-holders in early and through multiple methods like advisory boards, kickoff meetings, or representative working groups, helps align interest-holders to see how their priorities inform the project’s direction. We’ve found that revisiting our map while developing meeting agendas or drafts of deliverables catches blind spots and keeps our communications purposeful.
Track each group’s priorities, sticking points, and motivators. This running list can help when tailoring messages and preparing for key decisions.
Buy-in tends to grow when interest-holders see how the evaluation connects to what matters to them. Sometimes it’s about improving processes, other times it’s helping interest-holders tell their own story or meet reporting needs. Checking in with interest-holders as things unfold gives people a chance to share what’s most important to them, or to suggest areas where they’d like more depth.
Offer deliverables in formats or stories that work for each group. Perhaps it’s a one-page infographic, a logic model, or short narrative. Talking to interest-holders early on about what would be helpful can lead to greater investment and be mutually beneficial for evaluators and those being evaluated.
Some people are wary about evaluation and not everyone is excited about being part of one. Having a simple “Evaluation 101” session early on, plus making space for questions and casual updates, helps lower the temperature and encourage open dialogue. Try to balance the right amount of detail for each group. Some may want just the highlights, while others will dive into the specifics. Adjusting what and how you communicate can make a big difference in keeping people connected and helping them feel comfortable re-engaging throughout an evaluation lifecycle.
Provide a glossary or “cheat sheet” of evaluation terms and concepts at the project outset to create shared language, reduce confusion, and empower all interest-holders—regardless of their experience level—to participate fully and confidently throughout the evaluation process.
Working with interest-holders to think through next steps beyond the evaluation timeline keeps momentum going. Rather than seeing recommendations as a checklist to hand over, proactive collaboration across the lifecycle and recommendation setting process makes it more likely everyone feels ownership and the solutions are workable for their context or resources. It’s a relationship—figuring out together what’s doable, what’s scalable, and what makes sense given where the group is starting.
Engage your clients early and often across the lifecycle of your project – this promotes understanding, ownership, and buy-in.
What strategies and experiences have worked for cultivating buy-in, especially when navigating complex interest-holder landscapes? Please add your insights by commenting on this post.
The American Evaluation Association is hosting Cluster, Multi-site, and Multi-level Evaluation TIG week. The contributions this week come from our CMME TIG members. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this AEA365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the AEA365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an AEA365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to AEA365@eval.org. AEA365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. The views and opinions expressed on the AEA365 blog are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the American Evaluation Association, and/or any/all contributors to this site.