How much should evaluation cost? The answer is rarely straightforward. Evaluation and research support can range from a focused, short-term activity to a complex, multi-year partnership, and the final cost depends on much more than the deliverables themselves.
Our Evaluation Support Pricing Guidance Resource helps nonprofit and social impact organizations better understand what goes into the cost of evaluation, research, and consulting support. Drawing on BSRI’s experience across small projects, large-scale evaluations, and complex grant-funded initiatives, the guide provides practical information to help organizations develop more realistic budgets and make informed decisions about where to invest their resources.
Rather than presenting evaluation as a standardized service with a single price point, the guide explores the factors that shape costs, including scope, technical expertise, data readiness, stakeholder engagement, timelines, organizational capacity, and the level of coordination required between internal teams and external partners. It also highlights an important reality that can easily be overlooked: strong evaluation requires investment not only in reports and data products, but also in the people, systems, communication, and infrastructure that make those products useful.
The resource includes:
- Typical cost ranges for common evaluation activities and different levels of consulting expertise.
- Guidance on hourly versus deliverable-based pricing.
- Key factors that can increase or reduce evaluation costs.
- Estimated costs for common technology and data infrastructure tools.
- Considerations for internal staffing, training, coordination, and organizational readiness.
- Common budgeting mistakes and practical strategies for developing more sustainable evaluation budgets.
The guide also encourages organizations to look beyond the lowest available price and consider what they actually need from evaluation. In some cases, that may mean funding fewer activities well, phasing evaluation across multiple years, improving data infrastructure before investing in more advanced analysis, or building additional resources into a budget for evolving project needs.
This resource is particularly useful for:
- Organizations developing grant budgets that include evaluation.
- Nonprofits preparing to hire an evaluator, consultant, or evaluation firm.
- Leaders looking for a realistic starting point for evaluation costs.
- Organizations deciding between internal staffing and external support.
- Teams trying to align evaluation investments with their actual learning, reporting, and decision-making needs.
Ultimately, evaluation is an investment in learning, accountability, and better decision-making. Thoughtful budgeting helps create the conditions for evaluation to do more than meet reporting requirements. It can strengthen programs, support organizational learning, improve future funding opportunities, and contribute to long-term sustainability.
