Kylie Hutchinson

Hello!

My name is Kylie Hutchinson (she/her) and my ancestors are colonial settlers from England and Ireland. I was born and raised on Haudenosaunee territory, what is now known as Burlington, Ontario. I now live on skwxwú7mesh úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) territory, in the town of Ch’kw’elhp, also known as Gibsons, a short ferry ride from Vancouver, BC.

I have spent the past thirty years supporting the non-profit sector as a professional consultant, evaluator, trainer, coach, program manager, board member, and volunteer. My passion is working with non-profits of all shapes and sizes to build their capacity to make more positive change in our communities. I work with organizations to develop emergent strategy and meaningful, actionable strategic plans. I coach boards on governance to strengthen their effectiveness. I am an experienced Nonprofit Lifecycles Capacity Consultant and an active user of Liberating Structures in all my work.

My contribution to stronger, more effective non-profits also includes evaluation. In 2011, I received the Credentialed Evaluator designation from the Canadian Evaluation Society and in 2020 I was awarded the Canadian Evaluation Society’s Contribution to Evaluation in Canada award.

I have a strong background in training and facilitation and have assisted organizations in all sectors to build their internal capacity. I am well-known for my popular webinars and workshops and am an engaging public speaker. I have a diploma in Instructional Design and am a former instructor in a post-secondary instructor development program. For six years I delivered the Canadian Evaluation Society’s Essential Skills Series in British Columbia. These days, I am a regular pre-conference workshop presenter at evaluation conferences and tweet my insights regularly at @EvaluationMaven.

I’m also passionate about fostering non-profit program sustainability, and poured twenty years of experience into the guidebook, Survive and Thrive: Three Steps to Securing Your Program’s Sustainability. Two other books I’ve authored are A Short Primer on Innovative Evaluation Reporting and Evaluation Failures: 22 Tales of Mistakes Made and Lessons Learned.

See more about my work and client testimonials on my LinkedIn (Kylie Hutchinson) profile.

When I’m not officially working, I devote a significant amount of my time to volunteering as a Knowledge Philanthropist with Vantage Point, where I offer pro-bono non-profit capacity building services to all types of organizations. I am also a LEAP Ambassador, and a cycling/climate change advocate with Transportation Choices Sunshine Coast. When I’m not working, you can find me hanging out with my family, in my garden, in my kayak, hiking or skiing the local mountains, or doing errands on my electric bike. 

Testimonials

“Kylie is an evaluation translator. She provides accessible analogies for staff to understand evaluation concepts and to make the process meaningful for all involved.”

HEATHER TODD, QUALITY ASSURANCE MANAGER, NONA CHILD DEVELOMENT CENTRE

“Kylie was an excellent keynote speaker for our Indiana Evaluation Association 2017 Conference. She was great to work with – very responsive, flexible, knowledgeable, and creative.”

JENNIFER BELLVILLE, INDIANA EVALUATION ASSOCIATION

“Kylie is one of my favorite presenters and facilitators…I saw her present this topic at the American Evaluation Association conference last year and it was a standing room only in a huge ballroom. Since that session, I’ve used my notes many times and have started to change how I do my work.”

KARI GREENE, MPH, SENIOR EVALUATOR, THE INQUIRE GROUP; PAST PRESIDENT, OREGON PROGRAM EVALUATORS NETWORK

“I have had the opportunity to collaborate with, support, and learn from Kylie’s work with Vantage Point. With a curious and impact-oriented approach, Kylie consistently goes beyond client and team expectations in her role as a Knowledge Philanthropist and Associate. Vantage Point is fortunate to have Kylie on the team and she would be an asset for any team or engagement.”

MARIA TURNBULL, VANTAGE POINT

“Thank you so much for facilitating this strategic planning process for us. You were perfect — the right amount of visioning and tasking, and we appreciated your patience and good humour.”

NANETTE TAYLOR, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, HOLLYBURN FAMILY SERVICES SOCIETY

“Thank you for the great work you did on the evaluation of our grant-making activities. We particularly appreciated how quickly you were able to understand our issues and the professional and confidential approach you took when working with our stakeholders. The report you prepared for us will be an invaluable help to us as we move the organization forward.”

BC HEALTH EDUCATION FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS

“We’ve had the pleasure of working with Kylie in a variety of capacities over the last 7 or 8 years. She has delivered incredibly engaging and practical capacity building workshops for grantee partners on topics like program sustainability and logic modeling – both virtually and in person. And she’s been a valued thought-partner as we navigated complex long-term evaluations. Her combination of wisdom and empathy mean she is always one of the very first people I think of when I have a tricky question or need to check my own thinking.”

KIM LEONARD, OREGON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

“You can always bet Kylie Hutchinson has some killer practical advice explained in a fun, down to earth way.”

E. JANE DAVIDSON, REAL EVALUATION

“Our virtual strategic planning session was seamless, surprisingly efficient and even fun as we moved between the full group and breakout groups with clearly defined tasks.”

MICHAEL McLAUGHLIN, ASSOCIATION OF COOPERATIVE COUNSELLING THERAPISTS OF CANADA

“I have been through LOTS of sustainability training before, yet your two hours yesterday brought me some delightful and unexpected ‘Aha’ moments.”

KATHY BARBER, PATHWAYS TO POSITIVE PARENTING, COOS BAY

“Kylie’s webinar on sustainability and her knowledge on the subject have been invaluable to our grantees and our overall capacity building work at the Health Fund. We’ve had her present three times to our grantees and the feedback has been very positive.”

MEGAN MURPHY, PROGRAM OFFICER, MICHIGAN HEALTH ENDOWMENT FUND

“Enormous tasks, brilliantly discharged.”

ROSS HARVEY, POSITIVE LIVING BC

“Kylie’s ability to relate planning and evaluation concepts to everyday life made our workshops enjoyable and effective. Her enthusiasm and expertise were second to none; we’d have her back any day of the week.”

VERONICA MONTGOMERY, FOUNDATIONAL STANDARDS MANAGER, HASTINGS PRINCE EDWARD PUBLIC HEALTH