Is Your Organization Making a Difference? How Do You Know?

Anyone who’s procrastinated knows that just because there’s a flurry of activity doesn’t mean the critical work is getting done.  How many times have we sidetracked ourselves from a productive result with fairly mundane tasks that don’t really contribute to our personal bottom line?

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve faced an impending deadline and opted for something less stressful -- cleaning up my computer desktop, filing paperwork, trolling the internet for interesting business content, clearing out my email inbox, etc.  You could argue that these are all important to my role as a nonprofit coach and consultant.  They keep my business running smoothly and expand my awareness of cutting-edge ideas.  At the end of the day, I can say to myself, “Wow! I’ve read five really interesting articles that will help my clients succeed,” or “Fantastic!  My Inbox now has zero unread emails.”  But are these tasks directly advancing my mission?  What happened to my looming project deadline?

Obviously, I don’t let procrastination get the best of me.  Otherwise, I’d be out of business pretty darn quick!  But, I think this does illustrate how easy it is to be seduced by the illusion of activity and how unfocused we can become.

Does Your Organization Make an Impact?  

Part of the reason we become unfocused as an organization is because we are not clear about how our day-to-day activities connect with our overall mission.  We simply haven’t connected the dots for ourselves or our teams in a meaningful way.  When was the last time you developed a strategic plan that focuses, with laser-like precision, on delivering your mission?  Are your staff and volunteer job descriptions and team project plans aligned with the activities outlined in that plan?  Do your policies and procedures support a streamlined implementation of that plan?  And, are all resource and funding decisions prioritized based on that plan?

A Case Study

In addition, we make broad assumptions about how effective certain activities are in furthering our goals.  Consider, for example, the education activities of a fictitious organization that promotes healthy nutrition for kids.  Last year, the organization made presentations at 145 PTA meetings in their region last year and reached over 670 people.  This year they doubled that activity.  Their presentation materials were stellar, the volunteer presenters were well trained, and they received enthusiastic feedback from their audiences.  They might conclude, “Super! We’ve reached a significant number of people, our community support is growing, and now kids will choose healthy foods to eat!”   

Mission accomplished?  Maybe, maybe not.  Did kids actually improve the way they eat?  Did it happen as a result of these presentations?  How would you know?

My point isn’t that we should disregard the yields of our activities (commonly called our outputs), but that we need to dig deeper and test our assumptions about what they actually achieve (our outcomes) and the ultimate change they make in our communities (our impact).  This isn’t a new concept, by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s striking how many organizations continue to focus on outputs and assume the outcomes are occurring naturally.   We are all super busy completing our assignments, but are we really getting the job done?

Switching from Outputs to Outcomes

You probably don’t have a lot of money to hire a research firm to study what happens to the people you help and its ultimate impact on the community.  In addition, you may already have performance measures that you are required to track by your funder, your board, or simply because that’s your legacy.  

Even if this is the case, you can still choose to improve your outcomes measurement.  Consider again, the organization that promotes healthy child nutrition.  Which of the following statements demonstrate that the organization had an impact?  

1. Last year, our team made 325 presentations, educating over 1,350 parents about child nutrition.
2. Of the 1,350 people who attended our Healthy Kids talks last year, 90% felt that the information will help them plan healthier meals for their kids.
3. 90% of the parents who attend our Healthy Kids talks report that their kids eat healthier meals as a result.

The first statement merely reports on the tasks that were done.  It might be helpful in understanding the inventory of materials you need, the staffing levels to plan for, and if your event marketing is working, but it doesn't really demonstrate a mission result.

The second statement helps us understand the audience's perceived value of the material presented and indicates their willingness to follow a specific course of action.  It does not, however, track whether or not they actually acted on the advice given.

The third statement presents the end result versus the activity needed to make it happen or the audience satisfaction.  It’s clear, powerful, and compelling.  It’s mission-focused, and it’s something people can get around.  Take a look at the activities you currently track.  Are they directly connected to mission success?  Or do they represent a flurry of activity that may or may not be moving you forward?

And, perhaps even more important to ask in the current climate of budget debates, do the outcomes you track demonstrate a solid return on investment for those who fund it and support it?

To be fair, it is more of a challenge to collect the data that will support the final statement, and you can’t make things up.  So, it means you’ll have to not only decide which outcomes to track but also must build in systems to gather information from the people you touch after the fact.  Not super easy, but not impossible either.  Here are some resources that can help.

How to Do It: Three Good Resources

The Urban Institute’s Outcome Indicators Project provides a framework and some specific outcome measures for fourteen program areas -- such as employment training, health risk reduction, and advocacy -- as well as some generic performance indicators any program can use.  It’s a great place to start. 

Also, their publication, Finding Out What Happens to Former Clients, gives some specific tips on how to do follow up with people you touch to determine the impact of your services on their lives.

The Guide to Outcomes-based Evaluation for Nonprofit Organizations with Very Limited Resources, found in the online Free Management Library is also a great resource for understanding outcomes management in general.

If you really want to delve into this topic, check out The Nonprofit Outcomes Toolbox; A Complete Guide to Program Effectiveness, Performance Measurement, and Results.  I just bought this recently-released book and have had the chance to read a few sections so far.  It provides the soup-to-nuts tools and concepts you need to develop a performance management framework.

This isn't easy work, so it's often neglected.  We gravitate toward less stressful tasks that help us feel better about our work.  Like procrastination, it's usually easier in the short run, but make things much harder over the long haul.

 

Comments

[Verna Derosier]

Of course, I want my NFO to make a difference. It's the main aim of any non-profit org: to change lives. This will only happen if the organization is well-led and well-accounted.

[Tobi@tobijohnson.com]

Team members don't necessarily have to wait for executive leadership to take the lead -- to take the first steps toward measuring your program's impact. Individuals and teams can make the decision to start measuring some small part of what they think is most important about what they do. Then, they can share it with the higher ups. You may be pleasantly surprised with their response to your initiative. And, if they're not interested, no worries. You've still taken responsibility for your small part of the total organization's operations, and you can feel good that you are doing the absolutely best work you can on behalf of your service beneficiaries and community.