This paper describes formative evaluation procedures of a collaborative program developed by the University of Georgia's Rural Revitalization Initiative. The initiative represents a collaboration of units at the university and among local people from several different areas and disciplines. Twelve Georgia counties participated in the project, which focused on governmental management, community development, rural heritage, economic development, and training simulations. The project's goals are: (1) increasing the level of development planning expertise; (2) fostering new approaches to rural economic development; (3) creating pilot projects in education, adult literacy, and health; and (4) developing training simulations for teaching long-term strategic planning to rural community leadership. Each of these goals was managed by a different project "service unit." Evaluation procedures were planned through personal interviews with the initiative's primary stakeholders. These interviews generated extensive information for ongoing evaluation procedures and revealed varied expectations for the project. Informal observations and conversations at initiative meetings suggest more evidence of communication and cooperation than actual collaboration. The paper concludes with the observation that early evaluation of the Rural Revitalization Initiative used primarily qualitative methods, including interviews, reports, and surveys, to describe what happened in the project. A standardized coding form and coding rules also were developed to handle program documents and data. (TES)