measuring and communicating impact in nonprofit organizations by bryan richards of aspen impact

What’s the Score, Who’s Winning, and Who Knows?Discover Ways to Measure and Communicate Your Impact

Bryan A. Richards

President, Aspen Impact

Copyright © 2010 Aspen Impact

http://www.aspenimpact.com

Measurement Matters

Welcome

More than 100 new nonprofits form nationwide each day. They seek donations, grants,

volunteers, publicity, and other resources to stay alive. Meanwhile, our society becomes

ever more interested in the performance of the nonprofit sector. Which groups make a

tangible difference? Which ones spend well? Which ones connect deeply with their

community? Which ones prepare well for the future?

This presentation provides a framework for choosing methods to measure and convey

impact. A framework can help a nonprofit organization monitor multiple bottom lines and

communicate to a vast array of audiences, within the confines of limited resources.

The best measurement system often isn’t the one that covers every single thing, or that is

the most meticulous in its methodology, but that efficiently, honestly, and memorably

shows how the organization pursues and achieves its top priorities.


There are many voices in the wilderness...how will anyone tell yours from the others?!

Who’s Who? Who’s Good? Strategic

We tutor afterschool kidsWe help youth finish

school

We tutor, but it’s for

youth, not kids

We’re an afterschool

mentoring program

We help parents of

children in school

We focus on

afterschool arts

education

For us it’s after-school,

not afterschool!

We provide health services

to youth after school

We offer afterschool

programs for youth with

special needs


Measure outcomes in four core areas

Worth Measuring

Leadership and management

How well are we leading and managing?

Community outreach

How effectively do we engage our community?

Programmatic impact

How well do our programs serve individual constituents?

Financial sustainability

How financially sustainable are we?

Strategic

Make sure you are not only trying to measure programmatic outcomes.

You must prove your leadership knows what it’s doing.

You must prove you are relevant to your community.

You must prove you can survive.


Examples of useful measurements

Worth Measuring

Leadership and management

Achievement of National Excellence Award

Dollars raised per board member

Line staff run strategic plan initiatives to completion

Community outreach

Consistent participation within Pike Township

Effective online media outreach

Media exposure generates steady volunteer base

Strategic

Target

Win by 2012

$2,000

Completion of top two initiatives

8,000 repeat clients

20% of new clients come via web

300 of new volunteers cite media pull

Actual

Won in 2009!

$2,000

Two completed

11,000

30%

400

Status

J

K

J

J

J

J

=


Examples of useful measurements

Worth Measuring

Programmatic impact

Lasting job retention + progression among clients

Complete office skill development among clients

Financial sustainability

Debt-free building expansion

Seven-figure total revenue

Risk-minimal funding diversity

Strategic

Target

80% of clients get raise within 6 months.

100% of clients pass third-party exam

$0 of debt

$1,000,000

Government: 20% of $

<$1,000 gifts: 40% of $

>= $1,000 gifts: 20% of $

Foundations: 20% of $

Actual

80%

95%

$20,000 debt

$720,000

10%

45%

35%

10%

Status

K

K

M

M

M

=


Shift from measures of busy-ness To measures of effectiveness

Worth Measuring: Examples of What to Measure

Number of clients

participating in program

Focus shifts from proof of

effort to efficiency of impact

Focus shifts from amount of

activity to achievement of

desired results for the client

Focus shifts from

nonprofit’s behavior to

client’s behavior

Strategic

Time spent with

each client

Number of press

articles published

Measurements should emphasize your effectiveness, not your workload

Number of clients getting

desired jobs in desired

time

Percentage of clients

obtaining jobs in target

industries

Number of clients

citing press articles as

key factor in their

enrollment


Worth Measuring

Smooth

Sticky

Strategic

For each of the four Core Areas, design measurements that accomplish all three of these:

1. Correspond primarily to your strategic plan

2. Lend themselves to smooth implementation

3. Yield stories that will stick in the minds of your constituents

What you measure will play a large role in what you will do.

Measure a million things, and you may go in a million directions.

Therefore, measure just a few things that relate directly to your strategic plan.

Do not design measures that will drain your resources.

Measuring should enable you to operate better.

You should be able to view results as naturally as you view your driving speed.

You know how you are doing, but do others?

Use images, words, and channels that highlight and herald your outcomes.

Let your results be known! Yell them from the mountaintop!

Strategic

Sticky

SmoothSelect measurements that satisfy simple but powerful criteria


Can we keep score

economically?

Can we do so with

little interference

in our daily operations?

Will the kind of scores we get

influence strategic decisions?

Will we have the power to act

upon findings we may encounter?

Do we have the tools, skills,

discipline, and sample size to

score accurately?

Worth Measuring

Smooth StickyStrategic

Will our scoring methods

and results grab the public’s

interest?

Will the way we convey

results make people

want to talk about us?

Of all the things we can

measure, which are

most critical to our

strategic plan?

!


Traditional approaches Multimedia approaches

Ways to Incorporate Visuals and Stories Sticky

Online videos

Interactive maps

and GPS tracking

Time lapse

photos or videos

Recorded

sound clips

Award nights

Bios + stories +

testimonials

Financial reports

Program

photo collages

Choose methods that are simple and fun. Engage logic and the senses: touch, feel, sight, smell, sound.

Scrapbooks or

portfolios

Cooking results Internet analytics

Speeches


Ways to Incorporate Visuals and Stories

Use diagrams to show scope in relation to things people already know

“Each week we

advise enough

parents to sell out

the Colts’ stadium

three times!”

Smooth

Sticky

“Our shelter uses fresh

produce. You would have to

buy a full cart of groceries every

day for a whole year to feed as

many hungry homeless people

as we do in a single lunch.”



Apply different perspectives

Ask a friend to check herself into your center.

· How long does it take before someone helps her?

· Does she receive the help she needs?

· Do your staff members answer her questions accurately?

· Given your findings, how can you improve operations to make a more positive and lasting impact?

Change your metaphor. View yourself in a different light.

· Imagine your reception area as a pit stop at the Indianapolis 500 race.

· How would this metaphor change the way you measure your center’s effectiveness?

· How would it change behavior at your center?

Smooth

Sticky



Use mapping tools to show progress in each location you serve

Smooth

Sticky

Map courtesy of the Ryan’s Well

Foundation, which finances water well

construction in developing countries.



Let each person fill in the blanks

Give your clients a “Mad Libs” exercise.

· “I come to this agency to learn __________.”

· “The most important way I have changed since coming here is __________.”

· “I wish I could get more help with ________.”

· “The first words I think of when describing your services are _________, _________, and _________.”

· What words do your clients use to describe the outcomes they seek and the outcomes they actually get?

· Now repeat this exercise with your staff, board, and community partners.

· Are your outcome goals consistent across groups?

· Do all groups have similar perceptions of your impact?

· Where and why are there discrepancies? What will you need to change?

Smooth

Sticky



Take shots before receiving financial and in-kind support

Smooth

Sticky



Chronicle changes as you build your resource base

Smooth

Sticky



Show the dramatic difference resulting from donations you receive

Smooth

Sticky



Tie the tangible benefits to community impact

Smooth

Sticky

Photos courtesy of

Aster Bekele,

Executive Director of

the Felege Hiywot

Center in Indianapolis



Chart the contributions, immediate benefits, and ultimate social impact

Sticky

Source Date Contribution Benefits Impact

Flower Foundation

Pull Root Trust

United Gardens

Urban Way Fund

City Day of Service

Fruits Forever

Fund

Summer 2008 $10,000Siding and

insulation

Indoor gardening

courses in winter

Fall 2008 $7,000Lighting and

plumbing

Fall 2008 $12,000

Internet access,

databases, and

computers

Weekly e-mail to

3,000 supporters,

leading to $25,000

increase in donor

funding

Spring 2009 $5,000 Landscaping

Safe gardening

throughout the

season

Summer 200950 Volunteers

3 Tons of TopsoilPlanting of crops

Growth of 2 tons of

produce each week

Fall 2009$20,000

50 Bags of SeedGrowing of crops

Enough food to

feed 5,000 after

harvest

Feeding of produce

to neighborhood

twice monthly

Weekly e-mail to

3,000 donors,

leading to $25,000

increase in gifts

Mock data presented below


Additional Thoughts

Apply friendly approaches and keep your integrity

Match your audience.

· Do a “vocabulary audit.” Ask friends and strangers to tell you whether your narratives are comprehensible!

· Do an “access audit”. Check whether people with varying technical and motor skills can access your content.

· Do a “snap the fingers test.” Could you, or a listener, concisely state your impact at the snap of a finger?

· Your funders may prefer certain information. Seek advice and feedback about how best to convey your story.

Make it easy...for next year.

· If it’s going to be a ton of work now, is it going to be a ton of work next year, too? If so, find another way.

· If you tell a lot this year, will you have enough to say next year?

· If your measurements may change, think ahead about how to enable comparisons from one year to the next.

Embrace objectivity.

· Help people understand your value, but avoid temptations to sugar-coat or dramatize your impact. Be honest!

· Earn a reputation for being thoughtful and level-headed.

Smooth

Sticky


Ways to get help

Guidance and assistance are close at hand

Contact Bryan with questions.

· Arrange a conversation at your office, in the field, or via webcam.

· Ask questions, describe your goals, or discuss a project.

· Contact Bryan at 317.826.8520 or [email protected].


Bryan Richards is a consultant to nonprofit organizations worldwide. He started

Aspen Impact in 2003 to help nonprofit leaders make a more lasting and meaningful

difference in their communities. He has assisted over 200 clients on projects that

have enhanced agencies’ strategic plans, leadership skills, marketing and

fundraising communications, impact measurement, and daily operations.

Bryan honed his creative and analytical techniques at the global management

consulting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers and as the director of a nonprofit service

center at Harvard University. He has served in board and committee roles for

theatre, park, sports, and educational institutions. Bryan occasionally teaches on

university campuses. A Chancellor’s Service Award recipient and Phi Beta Kappa

graduate at UCLA, he earned a master’s degree in education and social policy from

Harvard and an MBA from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

Bryan completed additional studies at Indiana’s Center for Philanthropy and at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In addition to community roles, Bryan enjoys travel, reading, writing, and sports. You

can reach him directly at 317.826.8520 or [email protected]. To learn more,

see aspenimpact.com.

About Bryan


http://www.aspenimpact.com

Enjoy putting these ideas into action!

Bryan A. Richards317.826.8520

[email protected]


mailto:[email protected]

measuring and communicating impact in nonprofit organizations by bryan richards of aspen impact

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